Lucy in Wonderland
by Black Kitten Chara
Summary: Behind a shattered looking glass, time is running out. Nightmares, foes, and complete madness are around every corner for Claude and his friends. All because when Lucy grew up, so did Wonderland...
1. Prologue: The Beginning of Madness

**Black Kitten Chara: I know I said this would be up in March, but I decided to go ahead and write it. My obsession with both Hollow Fields and American McGee's Alice has become too much for me to sit and wait.**

**P.S. Do not let the title mislead you! Claude, Carmen, Simon, and Francine are the main character and Lucy will not appear until the middlish of this story! It is called the title it is because they are in Lucy's Wonderland!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do now own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

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Claude McGinty was impressed. In fact, he would have never guessed that his dizty redhead friend, Lucy Snow, actually came from a wealthy family with her father being a dean of a Oxford University or her mother being the well-known author, who goes under the pen name Michelle Rotfield.

"And you didn't tell me from the beginning because...?" The twelve-year-old boy asked his friend.

"Because I wanted to make friends who liked me for me, not because my family is wealthy." Lucy answered happily as they entered the white Victorian-styled house after getting through the black iron gates. "Mum, Father, Phoebe! I'm home!"

Claude sat his backpack down as a woman in her late thirties came from the spirling staircase. She had flawless skin, her blonde hair was wrapped thightly in a bun, and her bright green eyes shone with happiness. "Lucy, may I ask who this is?"

Lucy smiled at Claude as she said, "Mother, this is my friend, Claude McGinty. Claude, this is my mom, Serena. Or Michelle Rotfield as you know from her books."

Claude stood up as he fixed his uniform and blew a dark brown strand of hair from his face. He held out his hand and said, "Mrs. Snow, pleasure to meet you."

"My, he is such a gentleman." Mrs. Snow said as Lucy rolled her eyes**. **Mrs. Snow looked at her duaghter and said, "Your father is outside with his students. I am pretty sure he would like to meet this young man."

Lucy nodded her head as she took Claude's elbow and dragged him through the long hallway through a French door as they reached the lush backyard. There, sitting at one of the glass table with a yellow umbrella, was a forty-something man with dark brown hair and blue eyes that matched Lucy's own. "Father!"

Mr. Snow looked at his daughter as she came running up and hugged him. "My God, Lucy! Look how much you've grown!"

"Father, my hair has only grown inches and I am only a few inches taller." The eleven-year-old girl said in her thick British accent. "But, there is somehting I would like for you to meet." She motioned to the brunette behind her and said, "Father, this is Claude McGinty."

Mr. Snow patted his large stomach as he said, "Well, hullo there Claude. I'm Dean Snow of Oxford University, but many call me Arthur."

Claude smiled in good-will as Mr. Snow laughed when he looked at the shocked faces of his students, and Lucy giggled as she said, "My dad has his students to come over for tea every Sunday. They must be pretty confused on him having a daughter."

Claude seem to feel their pain. Just today did he learn that his redhead friend came from a rich family, so it was kind of shock meeting her family. Her mother seem to be that elegant queen his parents always talked about meeting and her father seem like a good man who is very well-educated. Nothing like the people he thought he would meet from hearing that _"Dentist story" _Lucy had told him.

As Lucy's father talked with his students and Lucy sat down like the good girl she was, a girl about eighteen came through the French doors. She bared a shocking likeness to Lucy; wavy red hair, deep blue eyes, flawless pale skin, and a good body for her age. She wore a red sundress as she came through with some tea.

"Hullo, Father. Some tea for you and your students?" The girl said.

"Of course, Phoebe!" Mr. Snow motion his hand to Claude and said, "This is Lucy's friend, Claude."

Phoebe smiled as she placed the tea down, then shook Claude's hand and said, "Hullo there. My sister has told me so much about you. So, it a pleasure to finally meet you." The older girl's voice was light and happy, but yet it was mature and elegant.

"Hi there. Lucy brought me here to finally meet all of you, and I must say that I am pretty impressed. Not even my parents would welcome my friends this warm nor would my sister be this nice." Claude joked. He knew how to make adults love him, which his older brother called his gift besides working with robots.

Mr. Snow smiled at the brunette as Mrs. Snow came outside and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. Phoebe smiled and looked at her her younger sister. Then she pulled Claude to the side and whispered, "My sister is a little daydreamy, if you haven't guessed."

"Yeah, I figure that out." Claude said.

Phoebe smiled as she kept talking. "Our nanny used to say that Lucy would daydream more than practicing on the piano. Lucy used to say that she made up a world called Wonderland. She says that her Wonderland is amazing, and she reads _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ all of the time."

"I never knew that." Claude said in surprise.

Phoebe smiled as her parents talked to a tall student with glasses and a slight beard. "Well, it was nice to meet you."

Phoebe walked back inside as Claude felt his phone in his pocket. He got it out and flipped it open to see _"Claude, teach us how 2 make bots!- Simon and Carmen" _Claude sighed as Lucy came behind.

"What's the matter?"

Claude was scared by her as he put his phone back in his pocket. "Um, I have to leave. Carmen and Simon are having troubles making their dumb robot."

Lucy's face looked sad, even with a smile, as she said, "Oh, well you better go." Claude nodded his head as he looked at her family.

"Good-bye Mr. and Mrs. Snow. Good-bye Phoebe," Claude said as Lucy was leading him back inside.

"Good-bye dear. It was so nice to meet you." Mrs. Snow said.

As Claude was lead back in by Lucy, he leaned in and said "You're family is pretty cool."

Lucy smiled as she opened the front door to the cold winter day. "Yeah, I have no idea what I do without them."

**~0~**

Many hours are Claude left then finally the students left, Lucy put out the fire in her family's library. Her father's photography equipment was near it, and her parents had gotten into an argument a few days ago about getting the flammable equipment away from the fire.

Lucy left the library with her black cat, Luna, rubbing against her legs. "Good night, Luna." The cat purred as Lucy went upstairs and lay her head down on her soft pillow. She clicked on her light as she read her favorite book, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, and her stuffed bunny in her arms.

After a few hours, Lucy fell asleep with her book wide open on her lap. But the story didn't stop there...

_**"Hello, Lucy. Welcome to my tea party."**_

_**"Hullo, Hatta. I see the March Hare, Dormouse, and White Rabbit could make it."**_

_**"I am still going to be late!"**_

_**"Oh, Rabbit. Still worry about making to the Queen's match. She wouldn't mind if you spend some time with me, Alice's descendant."**_

_**"Wake up, Dormy! Lucy is here!"**_

_**"March, be nice to Dormy. He has to sleep or else Cat will come and scare him to where we have to put jam in his nose again. And Hatta, Rabbit, and I will not be to please with that, would we?"**_

Lucy dreamt happily of the tea party. Long ago when she was six, she fell into Wonderland and figured out that her descendant was the original Alice. She went through all of Wonderland and still made it back to leave the park with her sister. Even today, she still went into Wonderland in her dreams.

As she slept and enjoyed tea with her friends, she began to smell something. Something like smoke and burnt oil. But she pushed it off as it being the fireplaces just going out. _**"What is going on?"**_

_**"Fire! Fire!"**_

_**"What? What do you mean fire, Rabbit?"**_

_**"Save, Lucy! Save, Lucy!"**_

_**"Lucy, wake up! Wake up!"**_

_**"But, Hatta... What is happening...?"**_

Lucy bolted up and saw flames under her door. She ran out of her bed with her stuffed rabbit in her arms and grabebd her door. "Mother? Father?!"

She could hear her father's voice yelling "Get out, Lucy! Save youself!" Lucy pressed her ear against the door as she could hear her mother yell for Phoebe to wake up and banging on her oldest child's door.

"Mother, Father! Where's Phoebe?" Lucy coughed as smoke got into her room.

"Save yourself!" Her father yelled again.

Lucy took his warming as smoke gather in her room. She ran as fast as she could to the open window she had and stood on her desk. She then jumped out from the buring house into the snow. Her face smacked against the hard-paced snow as her stuffed rabbit fell against her leg. And something else was there.

Lucy looked up as she saw Luna and her copy of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. _Lucy knew Luna must had jumped out, and she always kept a second cope of her favorite book on the desk, which must have fell when she jumped.

"Meow..." Luna said as Lucy turned around as saw her house burned. The last thing she heard before the ambulance arrived were the screams of her parents dying as the flames destroyed the bodies in front of their youngest child's eyes.

And that is only the beginning of the story.


	2. Going to London

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to the first actual chapter of **_**Lucy in Wonderland!**_** The last one was the prologue, and this will jumpstart the story now into six years later from where the prologue left off.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

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_**"Claude, I have gone mad."**_

_**The world around him was dark and cloudly as a small voice, thick with a British accent, talked to him. Claude moved his hand to reach for the girl, but she was just out of reach. "You are not mad. You and I both know that."**_

_**"Claude, I see my dream world becoming dark, twisted, and murderous. I am trapped within my own mind, and I can't get out." The girl continued on.**_

_**"You are not mad. I am still here, and you are not alone." Caude said to comfort the girl. But the fog around him became thick as the girl floated away from him like she was a ghost of his past. Claude tried to run, but his legs wouldn't work. "Lucy! Lucy, what is happening?"**_

_**"Claude, save yourself and don't come for me..."**_

_**"Lucy, wait! Lucy! Lucy..."**_

"Wait!" Claude bolted up from his reclining seat on the airplane as a eighteen-year-old girl looked at him with pity and annoyance in her eyes, but all the while keeping her usual smirk on her plump lips. Claude rubbed the spot on his forehead where he had just banged his head on the seat in front of him.

"Sleep well?" Carmen Banks, one of Claude's oldest friends, said.

Her black-purple hair had grown since fifth grade and she had quit straighten by the looks of the Medusa curls they were in, but her bangs still covered her right eye. Her lilac eyes shone with annoyance with her bushy eyebrows knit together, and her dark skin looked flawles as usual. She wore a white tank top with golden foral patterns on the hemline and a white leather jacket that was cropped to below her chest. She had on bootleg black pants made out of silk and had colorful butterfly patterns up to the knees, which showed off her strong legs and slightly wide hips. Her feet were covered in a pair of strappy stiletto heels, she wore a cluster of light pink pearl bracelets on each wrist, and she wore a black choker with the Jupiter symbol made out of jade.

"I guess..." The eighteen-year-old Irish boy said.

"Well, by the sound of your dream, you were having a wet dream about Lucy or a nightmare about her. So, which was it?" Carmen said straightfoward, as she usually does.

Claude buried his head into his arms and mummbled, "Nightmare."

Carmen sighed as she looked at the boy in front of her from her seat. "Well, we will be in London soon to see her. That ayslum can't keep us out when we have made an appointment and everything."

"I just have this feeling, Lately, I keep having dreams about Lucy saying she has gone mad, then she disappears. What does that mean?" Claude said.

Carmen shrugged her shoulders as the Irish boy sighed and buried his head back into his arms. Claude may not admit even with Carmen telling him over and over again, but he has had a crush on the redhead they were visiting since the fifth grade. Carmen also said that Claude could use his looks to woo Lucy, despite Claude not seeing what she meant.

Claude was a handsome young man; he had longish dark brown hair with almond-shaped golden-brown eyes and olive skin. He had grown taller and he had gotten a more muscular, leaner body with broad shoulders. His lower lip was fuller than his upper one, and he had this wolfish smile that made girls love him instantly. Around his eyes were delicate eyelashes and he had bushy eyebrows like Carmen's, but a little thicker.

Today, he went simple yet refine as usual; He wore a plain, light grey button-up shirt with a black leather jacket that had three straps across the chest. He had on a pair of well-fitted black pants and knee-high black boots under the black jeans. Around his neck was a black choker with a golden Alpha pedant and he wore black belt with a golden clockwork buckle, for his love of making robots, around his waist.

"Well, maybe that is a sign of you being in love with her." Carmen said with a smirk.

Claude shot his head up and glared at Carmen with his golden-brown eyes. "Don't you have anything else to talk about then that?"

"Nope." Carmen said with a smirk.

Claude sighed as he said, "So, trying to get off that subject, where is Simon and Francine?"

"Oh, Simon got hungry and decided to go look for the food cart. Francine went along because she knew that Simon would either eat all of the food or get her the wrong thing." Carmen said as the door behind Claude's seat opened.

Simon Belljoy, the eighteen-year-old friend of Lucy, came running in with the cart as Francine Steinwald, the sixteen-year-old friend of Lucy as well, was sitting on the cart as she read her book. "Food's here!" Simon yelled with excitement.

Simon was the tallest person in their grade and he had a lanky physique. He had shaggy pale blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and fair skin with freckles across his nose and cheekbones. He had slightly pointy ears, upturned eyebrows, a sneaky smile, and a gleam in his eyes at all times, even when he isn't planning a prank. He wore black-and-white checkered fannel shirt with a pair of worn blue jeans. He had multiple, thin black bracelts on each wrist and he wore a sleeveless white top under his fannel shirt. He had on a pair of black Converse, a silver stud in each ear, and a loose black choker around his neck that had the symbol of Loki, the Norse Trickster god, in silver.

"Well, make sure that you don't eat it all." Carmen said as she helped Francine off the cart as kept she continued to read on.

Francine was the shortest girl in their grade and she had a lithe physique with good-sized chest for her size. She had shoulder-length dark auburn hair in two pigtails and fringe bangs, huge dark brown eyes, and fair skin. On her heart-shaped face, she had a button nose and rosy cheeks along with shiny white teeth that was shown when she gave her dimpled smile. She wore a thigh-length, dark red sundress with short tea-cup sleeves. She had on her knee-length, thin white cardigan with black roses at the bottom hemline and the hemline of the sleeves, which became less frequent until it reached midway through the sleeves and the back. She had on a thick, golden belt around her waist and a black choker that had the symbol of Mercury on gold. Her feet were covered by black, ankle-length gladiator sandals that had white studs on the straps. Her pigtails were held by thin, silk black ribbons and she wore a thin, golden cuff on each wrist.

"Oh, ha-ha. Very funny Carmen." Simon said sarcastically as he filled his plate. "Blame me if I was born with a big stomach."

"Your stomach is bigger than your brain." Carmen snapped back.

Simon's face turned red as Francine said, "Carmen, be nice. The last thing we need is for you and Simon to fight when we see Lucy. She may not be in the best mental state, and we do not want to make that worst."

Everyone became quiet as the two stopped fighting. After the fire that killed Lucy's family six years ago, she went sent to an ayslum known as Renwick's Insitution for the Mentally Unwell. They haven't seen her in six years, and they wanted to see if they can help her get well and move on.

Carmen sat back down as Francine sat next to her. Simon finished gathering his food and sat next to Claude as he said, "Well, what happens if she is already gone?"

"Whataya mean?" Carmen asked.

Simon shrugged his shoulders and said, "What if she got better and left without letting us know? How would we find her then?"

"Well, we would have to ask the people at the ayslum and start off from there. Lucy really can't go far being only seventeen and having no money. All she really has is the trust fund her parents had for her, but she can't access that until she is eighteen." Francine pointed out.

"And if she is _still _there? What can we stay to her?" Simon asked again.

Francine sighed as she put down her book. "Well, we would have to remind her that we are her friends and even though she is an orphan, she is more than welcome to come and star with one of us."

"Yeah. She doesn't need to stay there when she is practially an adult, and she does need to know she still has friends." Carmen said.

Simon looked unsure but sighed and said "Well, I guess that could work." He tapped a drumstick on his plate before eating it as Carmen grabbed a cupcake off his plate. "HEY!"

"Hay is for horses, and you eat enough anyways! How can you be that size and still eat like a cow?" Carmen asked.

"I'm special." Simon joked.

"I can agree with that." Carmen shot back.

As the two argued and Francine went back to her book, Claude sighed and looked outside. They were thousands of feet in the air, and he could barely make out some citites from a far. But all he wanted right now was to see Lucy and know she was okay.

**~0~**

The teens landed in London a little after one o'clock. The streets were busy and they were barely able to get a cab since everytime they try to get one, some older guy would push them aside and walk in.

"Finally! I thought we would never get a cab!" Carmen yelled as she rubbed her heels on the furry carpet of the cab.

Francine rolled her eyes as she leaned into the front and gave the driver the directions. "We need to be here by two o'clock. Can you do that?"

The driver, a forty-year-old man with a pot belly and his greasy black hair smelling like smoke, rolled the cigar in his mouth as he said "Renwick's Instituion? Why there, kiddies?"

"We have a friend there. Her name is Lucy." Francine said with good will.

"As in Lucinda Snow? The daughter of Dean Snow and Serena Snow, and the same one who went mad?" The driver asked.

Claude leaned towards the front as Francine gave her signature gulp of nervousness. "Yeah. But how do you know that?"

"My son was a student of Dean Snow, and my wife loved Serena's books even though she never knew it was Michelle Rotfield as well." The driver said. "It was heart-breaking enough to hear that they both died while trying to save their oldest child, but it was even more so when we heard Lucy went mad."

"What are the chances here?" Simon whispered as the driver began driving so fast, Francine and Claude was thrown back into the backseat.

The driver weaved in and out of traffic as the teens held on for dear life. The driver somehow avoided traffic stops and made the ride much quicker without the perks of making it easier or smoother. They hit bumps, cracks, and curbs as the driver made a sharp U-turn and skid to the front of a building.

"Well, that will be fifty pounds." The driver said. Carmen opened her change purse and gave the driver the money as they walked out of the cab and saw the most wonderful building ever.

It was a tall and huge Victorian-styled building that has black bricks creating the walls. The roof was made out of black wood, and the many windows that covered the walls had black bars on them. The building had a tall, grey stone wall around it with black iron gates at the front that said _Renwick's Institution of the Mentally Unwell_ on the top, and the gates lead to the huge dark wooden doors by a grey sideway.

"Well, here we are." Simon said.

"Yup. Let's go see Lucy." Claude said as he opened the gates.


	3. Renwick's Institution

**Black Kitten Chara: Here is chapter two! Originally, I had going to have **_**everyone**_** working in the Insititution shown in this chapter, but I decided to cut into two parts to save some time. So, enjoy and don't forget to review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

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Inside the Insititution was just as impressive as the outside. The main room was tall with a spirling staircase leading upwards on the wall, and everything from the floor to the walls were made out of light brown wooden. The ceiling was a clear glass dome that let in the afternoon sunlight and the front desk was as thick and tall as the dark brown oak it was made from.

"Whoa..." Simon said as the four teens walked up to the front desk. Claude rang the small golden bell five times before a short and fat woman with bumps of her pasty, wrinkly face and her tightly-coiled red curls under the white cap that matched her old-fashioned nurse's outfit.

"Whataya what?" The woman yelled as Francine was heard wimpering.

Claude gulped as he regain his voice. "Um, my name is Claude James McGinty. We have an appointment."

The nurse looked unhappy as she got out a clipboard and said, "We need the full names of all of the vistors plus the paitent's name. So, who are you wee friends?"

Carmen gulped, which is unusually for the normally confident girl, as she said "Carmen Leanna Banks."

"Francine Lousie Steinwald."

"And Simon Flazel Belljoy." As soon as Simon said his middle name, Carmen brusted out laughing at it. "What?"

"I just can believe your parents gave you _Flazel _for your middle name. Do they hate you or something?" Carmen said through laughs.

Simon rolled his eyes and said, "That is a perfectly good name for a boy, mind you. Plus, I didn't pick it! My grandfather did, and what was I supposed to do as a newborn? Just sit there and take it, that's what."

As Carmen and Simon argued, Claude went back to looking at the now annoyed nurse as he said, "We are here to see Lucinda Penelope Snow."

The nurse gave a cruel smile as she said, "Oh, from the idoit's ward? That daft girl is the most ridicoulous paitent Dr. Whitfield as ever had! Always sleeping, mummbling about her twisted-up fansty world even as a young woman, if you can call her that!"

"Hey! It's not her fault that she saw her family get roasted." Francine said.

The nurse rolled her eyes as she kept talking and ingoring the small girl. "And when the monster is awake, she goes into violent fits that she even attacked my percious nephews. There are times when she awakes up, and she rocks back and forth like the looney she is, mummbling in cryptic language as she draws these wretched drawings. Disgusting that Whitfield still trys to help her, because I would have taken her to the electric chair and finish her off!"

"One more word, and you will regret it." Carmen mummbled as she stopped arguing with Simon to hear what this woman had to say.

The nurse laughed as she continued on to further the anger of the teens. "My nephews and I try to whip her into shape. The whippings and the leech treatment should have told her who is boss, but that mind of hers wouldn't take it! I offer to shave her head and drill a hole in it, but no according to Whitfield. And the damn nurse Diana keeps her door lock so my nephews can't have fun with another looney girl."

Claude had enough of this nurse as he slammed his hands against the desk and looked the woman in the eyes. He let a growl from his throat be heard as he said, "Listen, we want to see her now!"

The nurse looked annoyed as she pushed a button on the desk and mummbled, "Nurse Diana to the front please."

For the next five minutes, Claude kept his eyes locked with the disgusting nurse as she ingored him and flipped through the papers on her clipboard. Simon, Carmen, and Francine all were behind him as they stared down the ugly nurse with hate filling their eyes and their lips turning into deep frowns.

Finally, a young nurse came down the steps and breathed, "Yes, Nurse Ratchet?" through heavy breaths. She was a young, blonde nurse with her hair in a thick braid and her green eyes bright with innocence. Her pale skin looked flawless comapre to her fellow nurse and she was much taller and thinner than her senior nurse. Depsite wearing the same old-fashioned nurse uniform, she had a noticable large chest and long legs under her long skirt.

"Hello, nurse!" Simon said excitely as Carmen rolled her eyes.

Ratchet looked at her younger nurse and said, "These dolts want to see Paitent Snow. That looney girl that you try so hard to protect."

Diana's face became red as she said, "Of course, Nurse Ratchet. I think Lucy will be pleased to see them."

She motioned for the teens to follow her as Nurse Ratchet looked back at her clipboard. The teens stuck their tounges at the unnoticing Ratchert as they followed Diana up the stairs and they avoid another paitents.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that bat. She must have been quiet unloved as a child, because I have never met a woman so cruel." Diana said once they were out of ear-shot of Ratchet.

Carmen speed up to be next to Diana and asked, "Did she meant everything about Lucy's condition? She is really that bad?"

Diana pursed her lips together as she sighed. "Well, Lucy is a strange case. Ratchet did tell you the truth about most of her condition, but I know a different side to Lucy."

"What is it?" Claude asked, now interested in what the young nurse had to say.

"I have been with Lucy since she arrived. I knew her sister very well because we went to the same school in the same grade. I decided to keep Phoebe happy in Heaven by helping her sister. Sad case Lucy is, and I wish it didn't happen. But God does have a plan for her." Diana said with sadness covering her voice.

"What about this other side that Ratchet doesn't know?" Carmen asked.

"Well, since I am around Lucy more than Dr. Whitfield is then I see her as Phoebe used to describe her. When she is awake and not violet or mummbling, she goes down to the resting room with the other paitents and acts like a happy, caring girl. But something always happens that cause her to fall back alseep, go into a violet rage, or have hallucations. I try my best to protect her from Ratchet's nephews by locking her door." Diana continued on as they reached the top.

"Wait, have they raped her?" Claude asked harshly.

"No, no, no! Whitfield keeps 24/7 watch on the rooms of his paitents, and Lucy can tell when those beasts come in by their footsteps. Not hard to miss them." Diana said as she lead the teens through a hallway.

"So, she can be healed?" Simon said with hope in his voice.

Diana looked back at the blonde boy and sighed. She fiddled with the choker around her neck as she said, "It depends on her, truth be told. I have tried to help her myself by fixing her stuffed rabbit, but she yelled until that button eye came off. But, I guess if someone from her past came along and was willing to help her heal, then maybe she would get better."

"We went to the same grade school as her. We were her best friends before she was sent here from Nullsville, Austraila. Will that count?" Francine asked.

Diana sighed again as she lead the teens through double doors into a hallway whre an elevator was at the end. "Maybe. But-" Before she could finish, the intercom came on with Ratchet's voice at the end of it.

_"Diana, clean up in room 5689."_ Diana sighed again as she threw her hands in the air when the intercome went off.

She looked at the teens and gave her best smile, with no avil. She pointed at the elevator and said, "Lucy's room is on floor 19, and it's Room 9078."

"Thank you." The teens mummbled as Diana left them alone in the hallway.

Carmen looked at Claude as the doors slammed shut behind the young nurse. In her eyes, Claude could tell that Carmen was freaking out inside and wanted to know from someone who always had the answer if Lucy was going to be okay. And unfortunately for Claude, he was that person.

"She's going to be okay." Claude whispered as the four began to walk down the long hallway to the elevator. He sounded so unsure, that he started not to believe his own words. "She's going to be okay."

As the four walked down, a door in front of them swung open as the screams of a totured paitent was heard. Francine covered her mouth in shock as two very large men in white uniforms came out. The first man was short, had a thick crop of grey hair, and was slightly smaller while still being able to eat Claude or Simon. The second one was bald with a huge hunchback and distorted face, and he was much bigger in both size and height then the first man.

"Oi, and make sure you don't tell a soul!" The smaller man said to someone inside the room. He slammed the door quite hard as his beady eyes laid on the four teens. He nudged his worker's side as the two approched the teens. "Well, well. Who do we have here?"

"Oh, a bunny?" The larger man said as he clapped happily.

The smaller man looked at him and snapped, "No, you dimwit!" His eyes returned to the teens as he said, "And what are you dolts doing here? Come to see a loon? Or maybe they're here to admit themselves?"

Carmen rolled her eyes as she walked up to the smaller man. "And who are you, exactly? So rude to ask us our names while you have yet to give us ours."

The smaller man laughed as he said, "Well, darling, my name is Berck. This is my twin brother, Brick."

"Hello." Brick said happily, almost child-like. Simon leaned into Francine and whispered, "How much do you want to bet the big one ate their third brother in the womb?" Francine slapped Simon on the shoulder, but was also trying not to laugh.

Berck looked at the four teens then laid his eyes back on Carmen. "So, are you going to answer or be a bitch?"

Carmen gave her million-dollar smile as she flipped her hair. "Well, we are here to see our friend. You must of heard of her because you two fit the ugliness that a nurse described you two to be. Lucy Snow?"

Berck laughed as he said, "That loon! I never even knew she had friends to see her from the last six years she has been here!"

"Yeah! We tried everything from leeches to whipping her, but nothing works. And if the damn nurse kept the door open, maybe we can get her to react and scream. But we haven't tried anything since the time she stabbed me with a spoon after feeding that rabbit of hers." Brick said evily.

Claude felt his blood pressure rise as the two orderlies talked. He was never the type to fight unless it was self-defense, but at the moment he felt the urge to gorge the eyes of the two orderlies. He grabbed Carmen's wrist and said, "Let's go. Lucy needs to see us."

Carmen nodded her head as they began to walk pass the orderlies, but Berck grabbed her shoulder and roughly pushed her to the ground. "I never got your names, you bitch!" Carmen fell into a wooden stand that had a flower vase, which fell to the ground with her.

Simon and Claude turned around and both yelled, "Who said you can touch a girl?!" They both ran towards the orderlies, but Brick grabbed them by the collar of their shirts and held them up. "You will not touch my brother, oh no. So, I am going to break your necks now."

Simon and Claude waved their legs above the ground as the pleaded, "Someone help!"

Francine was helping Carmen up as she saw all of this, and she looked around in a panic. As the boys's faces began blue, Francine saw an umbrella and grabbed it from the stand. She ran behind Berck without being noticed and slammed the umbrella between his legs. "Ohf!" The fat orderlie fell to his knees.

Brick was still choking the boys as Francine ran behind and slammed the umbrella between his legs, causing him to drop the boys and let out a huge "OW!" before he fell to the ground.

Francine dropped the umbrella as she and Carmen ran to their friends's sides. "Are you okay?" Carmen asked.

"No time. Get to the elevator." Claude said between breaths as they got up and ran to the elevator. Simon pushed the button as the old, iron gate elevator came down slowly and the orderlies began to get their senses back.

As soon as the elevator opened, the four teens crammed inside as the orderlies saw them and ran to the elevator. But by the time they got there, the four teens were already going up.


	4. Down the Rabbit Hole We Go

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to chapter four! Remeber to tell all of your friends about this story, and thank you for leaving reviews!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

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Claude had let out a sign he didn't know he was holding in. He was leaning on the back wall of the old elevator as Francine checked Carmen's wounds, which didn't seem so bad. Simon looked scare as he said, "Those guys should not be working here. I mean, who pushes a girl for no reason at all?"

Claude shrugged his shoulders as he began running his slender fingers through his dark brown locks, which was a sign he was either thinking or really worried about something. "Let's try to not focus on them. We are here to see Lucy, not worry about some bloody dolts who treat women and mental paitents like shit."

"Well, they should learn some manners." Carmen pointed out.

Claude nodded his head in argeement as the old elevator moved with much noise. The old iron bars that surrounded the teens were rusted with time, and the old machinery moved with much hardship but it still moved quite fast. He looked as the elevator creaked to a stop and the old bars moved away from the teens to walk out with ease.

The hallway they stepped into was long and narrow, just like the one the orderlies were in. Claude began looking at the doors to find Lucy's room, but the dust on the signs made it hard to tell which room was which. "This is close to impossible..." He mummbled.

Claude flet a hand rested on his shoulder, and he turned to see Francine smiling at him as she said, "We will find her. If they clean up more and got rid of thne orderlies, maybe we wouldn't be freaking out..."

Claude smiled weakly as his face slammed into the back of Simon, who had stopped in his tracks. Claude moved away as he rubbed his nose and said, "What are you doing, Simon? I just slammed my face into that back of yours."

Simon pointed down the hallway to a heavy-built man and a elderly woman at a door.

The man had wrinking, pale skin with the head on his head gone and being replaced with a white beard on his double-chins and round cheeks. He wore a long, white tenchcoat that had a few dried-up bloody stains and that was button-up all of the way. He wore glasses that were perched on his thick nose, a white shirt under his tenchcoat, a bash tie around his thick neck, and black slacks covering his thick legs.

The woman, on the other hand, was short and deathly thin. She had an abnormally large nose, and hunchback-like posture that shorten her height even more. Her short, pure silver hair was pulled back into a tight bun that was low on her head and her watery eyes were covered by small glasses. She wore a floor-length, long-sleeved dark blue dress that looked worn out with a white apron over the lower part of her body and a dark green shawl over her bony shoulders.

"Now, now Chapman. You and I both know this girl is hopeless." The old woman said in a kind voice.

The man, who must have been Chapman, sighed. "I know. But with Whitfield leaving and with Dales coming in for the hypnotherapy sessions, there may be a chance to help this girl." Chapman said in a strained voice.

Claude looked at his friends as they walked up to the doctor and old lady. Claude breath in as he tapped on the old lady's shoulder. The woman turned around with such force due to being scared that she would have hit Claude if he was pulled back by Carmen. "Who are you?!"

Claude gave the woman daggers as he said, "Well, we are here to see someone. Lucinda Penelope Snow."

The old woman looked at him as she crackled. "Oh, you want to see the killer of her own family? She yells, and off goes her head. Well, have fun while I go get me some Blue Rin. I am getting quite thirsty, so Dr. Chapman will have you dealt with."

The old lady pushed pass Claude roughly as the doctor sighed. As the woman entered the elevator and went down, the doctor looked at Claude and said "I am so sorry about Nurse Pris' behavior. Usually Ms. Witless is kinder than that, but how things have been going lately she has become more and more angry."

Claude looked at the doctor in confusion as Carmen swoop in and asked, "I have a few questions; first, are you Lucy's new doctor?"

"Yes, young lady."

"Then where is Whitfield? Isn't he supposed to take care of Lucy?"

Chapman looked strained as he said, "Well, he time at the aylsum had came to an end a month ago. He wanted to stay with Lucy, but the owner of the aylsum wouldn't have it. So, he packed up his bags and left with his jounral of helping Lucy in toll."

Carmen looked shocked, but kept her composure as she said, "Okay. But can we know about Lucy's condition? We were her friends from Nullsville, and we came to see if we could be any of help."

Chapman looked tired as he said, "Well, we have been making some improvments since getting Edward Dales to help her. He used to be an undergradaute of Arthur Snow and he works as a hypnotherapy doctor, so I thought if we bring him in and help Lucy forget the fire then she would be getting better."

"Well, she is?" Francine asked.

Chapman sighed heavily. "She is still in deep sleeps that last for days, she still has moments of violent rages, and she still mummbles in some strange language when she is awake and not violent. But she has been less violent over the pass two weeks, which is how long Dr. Dales has been working with her. An hour session every two days and it has worked some compare to the pervious treatments Nurse Ratchet has been giving her."

"Do people really treat her that bad?" Simon asked the doctor.

Chapman nodded his head. "At this time, I am glad that what has happened because she is not being totured or being made fun of."

Claude's heart dropped as the doctor said this sentence. He loosen his shoulder from Carmen's grip as he said, "What do you mean? Where is she?"

Chapman looked startled as he looked at the door. "Well, that can not be told to outsiders. The head of the aylsum will have my head if I tell you four what has happened to my paitent."

Claude gritted his teeth as he slammed his hand against the doorknob. He turned the handle as Dr. Chapman looked shock, but all Claude said was "We are here to see her. So, let us in." Claude turned the handle and he swung the door open as Chapman shook his head. He began to leave the hallway as he said, "I won't do that..."

But the words fell deaf on Claude's ears as he walked through the door with his friends behind him. But what they found next shocked them more than anything else this aylsum could give them.

"W-W...Where's Lucy at?" Francine asked in a small voice.

The entire room looked untouched; there was Lucy's old stuffed rabbit on the pillow of her bed, a copy of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ laid open on the floor, and the covers were mess up like someone had kicked them off of them. But the strange thing was that the single window was shut tight and the door would have been locked if it was just Lucy in the room.

Claude looked shock and it felt like the air was knocked out of his chest. He walked over to the window and glass shattered as he slammed his hand against it in anger. "Claude, do not be over-dramatic." Carmen pointed out, but her face looked just as shock as everyone else.

Claude looked at her with angry eyes and said, "How can I not be angry? Here we are, just traveled across the globe to see Lucy and she is not here! How can she just disappear and nobody tell us!"

Carmen let her shock look go away as she crossed her arms and looked at Claude with slight annoyance. "Claude, maybe someone took her outside. Maybe she was allowed downstairs to hang around other people. You can't go and break a window just because she wasn't here right when we walk in. She may be in here in a few minutes, so calm down."

As the dark-skinned girl talked, Simon smartly got between her and the brunette she was calmly yelling at. He gave a weak smile as he said, "Can't we all be friends?' Carmen shot him a look for the silly comment as she walked towards Claude, but Simon held her elbow and kept her at bay.

As the three got into a little tiff, Francine sighed sadly as she sat down on Lucy's bed. She gently picked up the stuffed rabbit and held it gingerly between her hands as she whispered, "Lucy, where are you?"

As she looked at the stufed rabbit, Simon had finally calm Carmen down. Claude looked angry still, but he let out a breath as he said "Let's go. She is not here and it is obivous that nobody wants us here to begin with."

Carmen looked upset as well as Simon, but Francine nodded her head in agreement as she sat the rabbit down. She stood up and smooth out her dress as Claude pushed pass Carmen and opened the door. _"The last thing I need is for this day to go even worse..." _Claude thought as his friends finally decided to follow him.

Oh, how things change so quickly.

As Claude took a step out, Francine let a high-pitched scream that caused him to run back in with Simon and Carmen at his heels.

There, Francine sat in the corner and was pointing at Lucy's bed with shock and fear in her brown eyes. Simon went over and checked up on Francine as Carmen looked at Claude with confused eyes. Claude almost shrugged his shoulders until a voice, a deep and calm, said, "So, the heroes are scared of something that can not attack? Strange..." The voice purred and it was so smoothing, yet it held a darkness to it Claude could not place.

Claude, Carmen, and Simon looked on the bed and they finally saw what Francine had been so scared of.

It was an emaciated, almost skeletal-like, cat with his bones visible through his furless, gray skin. He had a large head and paws, a disturbingly human-like smile that was spattered with blood, a long neck, sharp claws, big pointed ears, and a long tail with a tuft of fur on the end. He wore a gold hoop earring in his right ear, and his skin was covered with black marking similar to tribal tattoos. His eyes were also yellow, and they glowed with a bright light.

"Is that a cat?" Simon said to Francine as she grabbed on to his shirt.

Claude looked shock as the cat kept is human grin and it began to walk off the bed, only to disappear all together and reappear in front of Claude. "Hello there, young hero..." It said, which caused Francine to yell her head off. "My, such fierce noise from a creature so small. Humans are strange."

Claude cocked his head to the right as the cat disappear again and began walking towards Francine as it reappear. "Do not be alarmed. I came with an offering."

Carmen looked at Claude as she began to hit her head. "Okay, it is obivous the push those orderlies gave me is causing me to hallucinate this. Claude, I think you and Simon are seeing this because the oxygen has gotten back to your heads yet."

"Then how come I can see him?" Francine whined. Carmen had no answer due to the look of confusion on her face.

The cat smiled at Carmen as he walked up to her without disappearing this time. "You can see because my master wishes for you to."

Simon cocked an eyebrow up as he said, "Speak English, please."

The cat smiled as he looked at Claude with its glowing yellow eyes. Claude felt uneasy, not because a cat was smiling and talking to him, but because he knew that all of this was real. Everything seem real and solid, and he didn't feel as light-headed as he usually does in his dreams.

"Where is Lucy?" Claude mentally slapped himself for asking that question, knowing that Carmen would hold it over his head. But his lips had betrayed him, so he had said "I mean, who are you?"

The cat smiled wider as it said, "I am merely a creation of a man's mind that helped influence your friend to create a world where everything is perfect. A special place that many love, and that certain book was created for your friend."

Claude gulped as he looked at the book on the floor. The copy of _Alice's Adventures of Wonderland_ that survived the fire and Lucy kept close to her. "Wonderland. Which means you are that Cat. The Cheshire Cat?"

"How unsure you sound. Yes, I am so the Cheshire Cat. And your help is needed." Cheshire said with his dark grin.

Carmen looked at Cheshire with the fire in her eyes back again as Simon lead Francine next to the dark-skinned girl. "What do you mean our help is needed? And who is your master?"

Cheshire kept his smile despite the enegry in the room turning dangerous. "My master is the one you came for. And the reason your help is needed because if not, my master will become fall even deeper into madness or forget her past. Either way, she needs help."

"Lucy needs help?" Simon asked in shock.

Cheshire smiled as he disappeared again, to only reappear on the bed again. "Yes. Ever since the accident, she has fallen into madness that has twisted her Wonderland, causing everything to be upside down. But now, it has gotten worse because one is trying to make her forget everything and the residents of Wonderland have become even worse due to this."

As the teens looked in shock and listened carefully, Claude began walking to Cheshire and reahced his hand out. "But that doesn't explain where Lucy is at..."

Cheshire looked at the boy as he smiled even wider. "My master has not only fallen into her twisted world mentally, but her physical self has also as well."

Simon peered from behind Carmen with his hands on Francine as he said, "Wait, Lucy is _in_ Wonderland?"

Cheshire chuckled a little. "Yes and no. She is in the world and she can get hurt badly, but her _true _physical self is somewhere else."

"Then tell us and we can go find her!" Francine yelled, getting back her courage.

Cheshire looked at Claude's outstreched hand and bite on his hand, which was the one he had used to break the window, and pulled him with great strength to the other side of the bed. "CLAUDE!" Carmen and Simon yelled as they grabbed his legs, with Carmen on his right leg and Simon on his left leg as they tried to pull him back but was being pulled with him. Francine panicked as she grabbed Claude's waist and was being pulled along with her friends.

Claude felt pain shoot up his arm due to his hand already bleeding, but the thoughts of pain were erased as he saw a spiriling blue tunnel on the other side of the bed. Cheshire fell into the hole with Claude, Carmen, Simon, and Francine behind him. The colors in the hole began to mix together as Claude saw strange things like pocket watches, tea pots, playing cards, jacks, and many other things as they fell deeper and deeper down.

Then there was nothing but dirt.

Claude felt his hand bleeding, but not to bad. At least it didn't measure to the bruises he knew had on his body as he groggily got up and saw the Cheshire Cat smiling at him. Carmen, Simon, and Francine also got up from the gorund as Cheshire said, "Well, you may it here alive."

The teens got up slowly as Claude looked up and saw a beautiful building; a black Victorian-styled house that towered above the talls, blacken trees it was surrounded by. The windows were tinted with red and the black fence surrounded clsoe to the house with tall, iron gates with spiked tops kept the brunette from getting it. A single tower was on the front right side of the house and the dark wooden doors had a monsterous door-knocker.

"Where are we?" Simon asked as he looked at the building with Claude in awe.

Cheshire smiled as the gate sopened like they had a free will. "Welcome to the Rabbit House."


	5. The Rabbit House

**Black Kitten Chara: Chapter five, and please leave reviews! Remember to tell as much people as you can as well!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice**

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Claude spit some dirt from his mouth as Francine and Carmen walked to the front gates. Simon kept looking at Cheshire Cat like the cat was about to rip his face off, but the Cat kept his creepy smile. Carmen tugged on the gates and said, "We can't get in."

Claude sighed as he stood up and dusted himself off. The Cat looked at him and said, "To enter easily is to enter without a will. You must find a way to enter that tests not only your mind, but you strength and heart." Then he disappeared.

Simon looked at Claude and said, "Why can't he talk normal?"

Claude shrugged his shoulders as he went up to the gates and shook them harder then Carmen did. He then backed up and looked at the gates from farther away; they were too tall for them to jump over, and the spikes on the top of the bars would make it painful if they fell on them. He looked to the sides and didn't see another way to enter.

"How are we going to get in?" Francine asked.

"We find the Cat and shake the key from him." Simon said seriously as he looked at his hands like the Cat was between them, despite nobody listening to him.

Claude bit his lower lip as he thought of a plan. The gates were to high from them to _jump,_ but maybe they would be easy to climb. He placed his foot on the bottom of the gate and placed his at random spots. "Carmen, push me up."

"What?" The purple-haired girl said in shock.

"Just do it." Carmen rolled her eyes as she placed her hand under Claude's foot and began pushing him up. Claude kept his hands steady and still as he struggled a little to get up, but he kept his hands moving upwards until he felt the top of the gate. He was now hanging as he crawled a little to hang himself between two, very spikey bars.

"Okay, now get Francine up here. Then Simon, get Carmen up here." Claude instructed to his friends.

"What, how am I going to get in?" Simon complained.

"Don't worry." Claude said as he waved his hand like it was nothing. Simon rolled his eyes as Carmen helped Francine up and then Claude pulled her to a space between two other bars.

Carmen placed herself at the bottom of the gates as Simon began pushing her up, where Claude and Francine grabbed her hands and pulled her to a space between two other bars that were between them. "Okay, now get down nad let me in!" Simon yelled from the bottom, which looked like it was ten feet below.

Claude looked on the other side and saw there was only a soft piece of grass where Carmen would land on. He gulped as he pulled his other leg to the other side of the gate and let them dangled as he was squeezed between the small space. Then he pushed himself off and barely made it to the soft piece of grass. "Ow..."

He got up and looked at the two girls above him. "Okay, you guys jump and I'll catch you." The girls nodded their heads as they looked down with fear. Carmen went first and pulled her other leg so she would be squeezed between the bars, then she jumped as Claude caught her with his breath being knocked out.

He placed Carmen on the ground as he looked at Francine. "Okay, now you." Francine's eyes were filled with fear as she pulled her leg other to the other side. Surprisingly, she was able to fit between the smal space between the bars due to her small body. Then, after a second of thinking, she jumped down and into Claude's arms.

As Francine got out of Claude's arms, the brunette looked at his friend on the other side. "Okay, Simon. Give me one minute."

"Well, hurry. I don't like that this place has a blood red sky and dead trees." Claude looked at what Simon had just said; the sky was blood red and the trees are this place as well as farther on had dead, tall trees.

Claude went up to the gates and looked at the lock. It was a chain covering the gates from the inside with a huge lockpad on it. He looked at his female friends and said, "Do either of you have a bobby pin?"

Carmen placed her hands on her hips. "That's kind of sexist."

"Do either of you have a bobby pin?" Claude sighed as Francine picked at one of her pigtails and pulled out a bobby pin. She gave it to Claude as he took it and placed it in the lockpad. He kneel down as began working at the lock, doing what his older brother had taught him years before.

As he worked furiously on the lockpad, Carmen looked through the gates and saw something behind Simon. Something bubbling black, and some with a doll's head mixed with steampipes in the bubbling tar. She squinted her eyes as she saw the tar growing bigger, and Francine must of saw it too because she yelled, "SIMON!"

Simon looked at the girls strangely as they pointed behind him. He turned around and saw the tar growing into five, small hunchback creatures made out of the tar completely with the eyeless doll's head on front and the steampipes on the hunchback with thin arms and four, spider-like legs.

"Sweet Jesus!" Simon yelled as he grabbe don the bars. "Claude, hurry for the love of God!" Claude looked up as the final lock clicked as the strange monster as running extreme fast at Simon.

The gates opened barely with a creak, but Claude pulled Simon through the small space anways and shut the gates as the tar monsters began using their arms through the bars with no avil. The teens looked in shock as Francine said in a timid voice, "What is that thing?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the Cat reappeared in front of her and said, "Insidious Ruin. One of the five types of Ruin that have been infected Wonderland in the last few days. Be wary and keep mind that they are not from Lucy's mind."

Before could ask what he meant, the doors to the house opened and Cheshire Cat smiled as he said, "Go inside and I will teach you to the best of my ability."

He began walking into the house as the teens looked at each other with confusion. As the Insidious Ruin yelled in a inhuman voices, the teens began walking as fast as they could inside the house. Once they were in, they doors slammed shut behind them.

"I can't see!" Carmen said off-the-bat. It was true since the whole house was completely dark and there was no visible light from outside, but there was boarded-up windows anyways even if there was light from outside.

Even in the dark, the smile of the Cat could be seen as his lips moved. "If your mind was as sharp as your smart-mouth, then you can follow mine to find the path I have for you."

Claude sighed at the Cat's comment. He had an IQ od 180, yet he couldn't follow what this Cat was saying or if he was even in Wonderland. But as the Cat began to moved and his smile was still visible, Claude started to follow him as his friend as followed behind him.

Claude kept one hand on the first wall he found and felt his feet go down. It took him a minute to realize he was on a staircase that was leading downstairs, but he was wondering what was downstairs to begin with. When they walked into the house, it seems like they were on the first floor and it didn't seem possible for this place to even have a basement.

Soon, he felt his foot hanging off the last step as someone barrled into him. "What is your problem?" He yelled at one of his three friends.

"Well, excuse me! But stop thinking and move your bum before I move it for you." Carmen's voice said right in Claude's ear as she pushed pass him. Claude rolled his eyes as he stepped off the stairs with Simon and Francine following his lead.

Lights overhead turned on to reveal the room they were in; a huge basement with a high ceiling that had ceiling lights and bookshelves that didn't have books, but the shelves had strange objects hanging of them and on the shelves itself. There were small, wooden tables with misty orbs on them and there was a silver, army-like door that covered half of one wall.

"Where are we?" Francine asked in awe as she looked around.

Cheshire Cat looked at her as he said, "Before I send you out, you must gear up and learn a few tricks."

Carmen rasied a finger as she said, "Um, we can't do _tricks_. That is sorta of impossible anyways."

Cheshire Cat looked at her and cocked its head. It moved its hand to show her around the room and said, "This is Wonderland. Anything is possible, even when you master's mind has almost gone to pieces. What I am about to teach you is five out of seven tricks that wil help you. The other two will be learned after we leave this place."

Claude looked unimpressed as the Cat looked at Francine and moved his hand at the silver door. "Dodging is useful when used at the correct time. Focus on getting out of the way and little friends shall do the rest. Open the door."

Francine looked at her friends as she went over to the door and open it slightly. But before she could open it all of the way, a sword slashed besides her and a monsterous red chess piece came out. "AH!" As the chess piece caught sight of Francine and slashed its sword, Francine closed her eyes as she disappeared into a bunch of red butterflies.

Everyone looked in shock as Cheshire Cat waved his hand and the chess piece stopped in place as Francine reappear into her human form a few feet from her original spot. "That is called Butterfly Dodge. Each of you can do it, but focus as you do."

As Francine regain her composure, the Cat smiled as he said, "Now jump, girl." Francine looked unsure as she gulped. She arched her back as she jumped into the air, causing an array of butterflies and leaves under her as she float in the air. "This is called Floating. Use this to get across large gaps and to get to higher places."

Carmen and Claude now looked impressed as Cheshire Cat looked at Simon. The blonde boy gulped as Cat said, "Now, I want you to touch your pedant." Simon rolled his eyes, but his fingers reached to his Loki symbol around his neck. As he did, it glowed and he turned invisible almost immediately.

Everyone had their mouths opens as Cheshire Cat said, "This is called Invisiblity. Use this as long as you can to avoid creatures, but never wander from where you turn from." After he said that, the spot Simon was at glowed as Simon reappeared.

Carmen now had her arms crossed as she said, "This is kind of cool. Teach me something." Her smirk caused the Cat to smile at her.

"I want you to focus on the minutes in this rooms. Bend time to your will." Carmen looked unsure at first, but she raised one hand straight in front of her as she breath in deeply. She suddenly felt everything slow down and she saw her friends's bodies moving slower. she breath in deeply again as she thought about making time normal again, so when she opened her eyes she saw her friends at normal speed.

"Wow. That is awesome!" Carmen yelled happily.

The Cheshire Cat looked at the happy girl before he stared at Claude. The brunette gulped at Cat said, "Since this is Wonderland, anything can happen. Change something or make something appear. You can control as much as my master does."

Claude, for some reason, understood what the Cat wanted as he closed his eyes and focused on something. _"I guess make that chess piece turn into a rabbit." _Claud ecracked one eye opened to see that the red chess piece that almost hurt Francine was now a huge, fluffy rabbit that was standing still. Francine smiled as she screamed, "Aw, it's a bunny!" She ran over and hugged the rabbit before it disappeared, which caused her to pout.

Cheshire Cat looked impressed at the teens as Carmen looked at him and asked, "Wait, you said five out of seven. What about the other two?"

"Like I said, we must leave this place to know how to use them. One of them can be found and I will teach you then, but the other is learned during fights. How fine you will look when dressed in Rage. Your enemies are fortunate your condition will not be permanent. And you will be lucky too; red eyes suit so few." Cheshire Cat said before he disappeared to only reappear near one of the shelves.

He moved his hand at the shelf behind him as he said, "A weapon is one's most powerful defense. One must be up-close while the other must be afar. Chose wisely." He disappeared appear again as the teens gather near the shelf.

The first one to pick something was, of course, Carmen. She took what looked like two pepper grinders that were turned into guns. They were classic tanned wooden grinders with metal detailing and animated facial-features of a pig lightly carved into the wood, including round eyes, ears, and an open mouth with blunt teeth. She smiled as she placed the guns on her belt and took a slip of paper from one gun. "Pepper Grinders, made by the Duchess. Just turn the handle as these become rapid-fire machine guns that shoots pepper corns at high speeds over long ranges."

Simon's eyes shined with mischeif and he smirked as he yelled, "Me next!" and grabbed a random weapon. As he looked at his chosen weapon, he frowned at what it looked like. It was a classic-looking hobby horse that has a long, light brown wood for its stick. It had a blank expression and round eyes with light blue wheels, rope reins and "collar detail" around the neck. Its mane was made from a pieces of bash rope and its head was made out of brown material. He frowned as he grabbed the strip of paper around its neck and read, "Hobby Horse is a large, hammer-like weapon that can fend off or destroy big or heavier enemies."

Francine giggled as she looked at the weapons. She eyed many things beforew she picked up a strange watch; it had a silver strap with a clock face that was shaped as a black metal teapot with silver detailing, and a blue clock face. She placed it on her wrist and grabbed the slip of paper that was nextto it. "Teapot Cannon, made by Hatter Manufacturing. The watch becomes a long-range, well-balanced cannon when the clock is pressed. Shoots tea bombs at enemies."

Claude rolled his eyes and smiled at his friend's choices. He then went up and looked at the weapons in front of him; there was a cork gun, a mallet, and whip with a circular disk. But what caught his eye was the last weapon on the bottom. It was a shimmering sword with a silver, double-edged blade that had some designs on the both sides, a black leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with green studs and a Cheshire head on the top of the handle. The long hilt went pointed downwards with sharp points as it curled inwards.

Claude picked up the sword and twirled it in his hands. As he did, Carmen looked at a second weapon; a croquet mallet that had its head shaped as a blue flamingos. She twirled it in her hands as she slammed in against a table, causing the table to break as litle sparks flew off the mallet. "Sweet..." She said with a cocky smirk.

Simon looked at the weapon shelf as he grabbed a stack of playing cards. They looked like simple rectangle-shaped cards. Each card had a white front with a suit and number printed upon it, and black-and-red back printed with a snake curled into a captial "S". Simon looked at the cards until he noticed the razor-sharp edges made out of metal, where he smiled and said, "I'm guessing these can cut into things."

Claude and Francine looked at the shelf as Claude was the first to grab his second weapon; three, black die. They looked normal enough, but Claude felt something demonic about the die that he had to put them in his pocket. He grabbed the slip of paper that was next to them and read, "Demon Dice is stronger as three. But be careful for these and the Jacks have no real loyalities."

Francine cocked her head as she reached for the top shelf and gently pulled down a strange weapon; It was an umbrella made from light blue Battenburg lace with a black handle, and a few holes can be seen along the lining. She opened it as a piece of paper fell out and she picked it up. "Use this to deflect attacks. But the point can be as deadly as a sword." Francine read aloud as she closed the umbrella.

As the teens chose their weapons, Carmen looked around and said, "Where can we go now? The front has those creatures and we can't see a damn thing when we go upstairs."

Claude thought about it. He knew that there must be a backdoor, as all places even imagary ones have. Francine was busy looking at a golden axe with a heart-shaped blade as she asked Simon, "Should I switch weapons real quick?"

Claude looked at the silver door that the chess piece came from and open it all of the way now, seeing that there was nothing about a white room. He sighed as he said, "The only way I can think of to leave is the top floor. We can crawl down from there and those creatures will not see us."

Carmen looked at him crazy, but Simon tapped Carmen's shoulder to distract her. She turned around and yelled, "What?!"

He gulped as everyone stayed silent long enough to hear the ground shaking. Francine dropped the axe as the four looked at the ground, which was now cracking under their feet.

Before someone could say anything, the ground broke under their feet as the whole house crummbled with them. They realized that the entire house and the area it was in was _hovering_ over the actual land of Wonderland as they dropped into the sky and fell faster than they could stop.


	6. Vale of Tears

**Black Kitten Chara: Chapter five, folks! Enjoy and please leave a review! P.S. if any of you have a request for this story or a question, just PM me and I will try to answer it to the best of my abilities.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow fields or American McGee's Alice!**

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Falling is all they can remember if you asked them about what happened to the Rabbit House. Falling tens of thousands of feet in mid-air as debris of the old house fell pass them, barely missing them as they all yelled in fear and panic.

"We're going to die...!" Simon yelled.

Claude shut his eyes as he hoped the landing would be at least either on a very soft ground or water. But he knew that probably all of his bones would break and he would have serious head trauma for many years if he lands on anything at this point. _"Maybe it would be easier if something stabbed me."_ Claude thought to himself.

Then, like by some miracle she had remember this, Claude heard Francine yell, "Guys, use that move that Cat taught me. The one where you float."

"But he said that would work for getting to higher places or to get across large gaps! Not for falling ten thousand feet in the air!" Carmen yelled.

But Francine didn't listen as she placed her feet under her and closed her eyes. "She's dead." Simon mummbled. But as Francine pursed her lips together, an array of red buttterflies, golden leaves, and a white hurricane appear under her feet as she steady herself and started floating down slower than her friends.

Simon looked at the small girl as he yelled, "Why does she always have to be right?!"

"Just do it!" Claude yelled back as he somehow got his feet under him. He shut his eyes tight as he prayed that this would work, and he began to feel something under his feet. He looked down to see golden butterflies, brown leaves, and his own black hurricane around his feet as the speed of his falling decreased.

He looked at Carmen and Simon to see they had the same luck. Simon had green butterflies, blue leaves, and a golden hurricane under his feet, and Carmen had dark purple butterflies with pink leaves and a lilac hurricane under her feet.

The three teens followed behind their smaller friend as they began to see something in the ocean; it looked like a continent, but some parts were black with strange-colored skies while some looked like tropical paradises with blue skies. And they were heading for one of the tropical parts.

"Wow!" Francine squealed as they got closer to the portion of land.

It was a large, vibrant, and lush forest that was growing a around a long and dark blue river, with tall trees, colorful mushrooms, and lots of flowers. A huge, gigantic statue of a crying girl was providing the tears that made up the rivers and streams. The river formed into various waterfalls, and there were other large crying statues along the path. There were also large game pieces around the place, including marbles, jacks, dominos, and dice. The only other deliberate construct there was a house, which looked like a shack made out of various bits of junk.

As the teens got closer, the butterflies disappeared from under their feet as they slowly reached the surface of the forest and landed softly next to a waterfall. Huge dominos lead the way to a small rock in ther river, and the Cheshire Cat appeared on this rock. "About time too, you four."

The four teens stared at the Cat as they began making their way across the river by the huge dominos, and Claude said as he crossed his arms, "Blasted Cat. Don't try to bully us, because we are very much on edge at the moment."

"_Purr_fect. When you are not on edge here, then you're just taking up space." The Cat smiled with his cruel grin.

"You're no help at all! Leaving us to die, and we don't even have something to carry these heavy things." Claude said in anger as he held his sword.

"But you know I can be." The Cat said as he used his paw to pull out two leather, slender quivers and two leather sword belts. Carmen and Simon picked up a quiver as they placed their weapons inside, without the worry of them not fitting in. Claude, still angry, and Francine grabbed the belts as Claude placed his sword in the leather holder and Francine had a small hole instead of a holder that fit snuggly around her umbrella.

Claude turned his back and said to the Cat, "Well, good-bye then. I am hoping to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"Abandoned that hope. A new law regins in this Wonderland, Knave. It's very rough justice all around, and we're at risk here. So your four, be on your guard." The Cat said as he disappeared again.

Simon crossed his arms as Claude started to walk. The blonde boy looked at Francine and asked, "Where are we?"

Francine tapped her chin thoughtfully as she said. "Well, I think we're in the Vale of Tears. An old part of Wonderland that isn't metion much, but lucky we're here instead of being in one of those dark areas."

Carmen and Simon nodded their heads in agreement as the three followed Claude through the river and back on land. The forest seem to be thicker and thicker by what they could see, and Carmen began to notice something after walking a few feet on dry land again. "Doesn't that statue look like Lucy?" Carmen asked as she pointed to the gigantic crying statue on the cliff.

Simon, Claude, and Francine all turned around to see what she had meant; the statue was of a girl no more than seventeen. Even though it was void of color and just grey, the facial structure and the shoulder-length hair with M-shaped bangs looked so familiar. It wore an old-fashioned Victorian-styled dress, but it was cut off by the waist.

"It does." Francine said as the statue's closed eyes let water flow like they were real tears.

Francine looked at the statue a moment longer as Carmen pulled her along to catch up with Claude. Simon looked at the girls like he had nothing to do with Claude going ahead, but they kept silent as the four walked through the thick, lush, and colorful forest as Simon licked his lips at one mushroom.

As he wander to grab a slice, Francine pulled on his collar and said, "Oh no, you don't."

Simon looked upset as the four continued down the forest, where the sound of a small waterfall could be heard from only a few feet. Claude kept his right hand on his sword, now safely tucked in its sword holder on his new belt, as sunlight poured through a small opening in the forest. There, on a rocky ledge, was a circular, dark purple bottle twice the size of car with a long top that had a tag that said _Drink Me_ in delicate, black curvsy. It was pouring dark purple liquid into a small pool, and the Cat reappeared on the sole rock in this pool.

As they walked to the pool, Carmen smirked at the Cat as she said, "Let me guess; good things come in small sizes?"

The Cat shook his head as he said, "Though lacking bathing suits, you four are due for a swim."

The teens looked unsure as they walked into the lilac-colored waters and some of the handmade waterfall splashed on their heads.

Then they began to shrink. "My God, we're shrinking. Are we going to disappear?" Claude asked as he shurnk to the size of an ant. His friends follow suit on his size as they became small enough and their visions became tinted with purple.

"Almost. This was the other skill you need to know. Shrinking comes in handy when looking for escapes and prizes that you can not see with the naked eye. Hiccup and your size shall change before you can blink." The Cat said as his grin became a little wider.

The teens looked amazed as they hiccup once, and they grew back into their normal izes within a second. "Cool!" Francine said as she hiccup again and became small more once, then hiccup once last time as she grew back. "Sorry, but I'm just testing it out."

The Cheshire Cat smiled at the four as they walked out of the lilac pool, completely dry as he said, "Now, for a test. If you can prove yourself, then you will be given a lift and the explantation you so need."

As the Cat began to diappear, a scream could be heard as the teens all huddled together and looked with freaked out as at the direction the scream came from with all of their weapons out. But all it was just a child-sized, yellow-green chameleon that stood like a man on his back legs. He wore a brown tool-belt, a flatcap and an off-white waistcoat. His eyes were huge and his long, red tounge stuck out as he ran for dear life into Claude's leg.

"OW!" Claude yelled as he kicked the chameleon and held his hurt leg. "What the bloody hell are you doing running into my leg?"

The chameleon got up and shook his head as he breath in heavily. Claude had to hold his breath, and giving the other three teens daggers for hiding behind him, as he smelled the strong scent of brandy off the chameleon's lips. "She got me home. Dirty bitch! And she stole me brandy at that too!" The chameleon said in a thick Scottish accent.

Claude glared at the chameleon as Francine pushed pass the brunette and said, "Who has your home, Mr. Lizard?"

The chameleon gave Francine a dangerous lok as he yelled, "The name's Bill McGill to you, Missie! And that damn Duchess took me home and me brandy. I'm going to die if I don't me brandy back..."

"What about your home?" Carmen asked in confusion.

"Me brandy is the most important thing to me. If you can get that bitch out of me house with me brandy safe, then I will give you anything." Bill wailed in despair.

Claude looked at the chameleon as he began to think thoughtfully on this. A smirk came acros the brunette's face as he said, "We need to get to the nearest town, or whatever you call it here. We have enough wits to get the Duchess out anways."

"Boy, wits are useless in Wonderland! Plus, the nearest town in the Village of the Doomed and the old railroad has been torn to peices since the arrival of that damn Ruin! But, I might as well since you are helping me." Bill wailed.

The chameleon got up and began walking towards where him came from, and with worried looks on their faces, the teens followed him.

Bill wailed on and on about his _"lovely"_ brandy as Francine looked around the lush forest with interest.

Francine had always the girl to take in her environment, then ask a million questions to understand it. At the moment, she was taking in the beautiful place as she asked questions to herself she didn't dare to ask the old, drunken chameleon. _"Why is the Cheshire Cat and Bill McGill acting so different than what they do in the book, which I have proudly read over ten times, and Wonderland still look like this? And how does Lucy have control over this place?"_ Francine thought silently as the chameleon finally stopped at the house built out of junk.

"This is me place." Bill said sadly. "...Or was, at least."

Claude went up to the door as he pulled the Cheshire Sword out. He curled his hand together as he looked at Bill and said, "So, what happened exactly before we walk into a death trap?"

Bill looked upset as he lamented, "I was sitting, drinking me brandy when that wretched bitch came in with her pepper gun! She began shooting at me, and I ran out as that damn ruin covered my back door. I didn't dare go back through the front because that leads straight to the main room, and the Duchess is in the main room!"

"Pepper gun, eh?" Carmen said with a cocky smirk as she took her own Pepper Grinders from her belt.

"You don't understand. The Duchess' gun is powerful, and she is very fast. You basically have to burn her to actually defeat her." Bill lamented as he looked at his empty hands. "But you if burn me brandy-"

"You'll kill us?" Simon finished off.

Bill looked upset as Claude sighed and knocked on the door lightly. But even with the light knocks, the doors swung open and a strong gust of wind began to pull the teens in. Bill looked in shock as he turned on his heels and yelled, "AHHHH!" He ran away as the teens were pulled into the house and the door slammed shut as a latch shut them in.

**~0~**

Claude fell face-first into a brick wall as Francine and Carmen plowed into his back and Simon just fell straight to the ground. Claude felt some blood rush to his cheek as the two girls on his backs groggily moved off of him and rubbed their faces. Simon pushed himself off the ground as he spit some dirt out and asked, "Since when in hell does houses pull you in?"

"Since we came into Wonderland..." Francine mummbled as she helped him up.

Claude rubbed his cheek and looked at the small amount of blood he had gotten. He looked around and said, "Okay, we are _not_ in the main room by the looks of this." The room they were in was a long, narrow hallway with bits and pieces of random junk poking out from the walls.

The brunette looked at his friends and said, "Looks like we're walking."

Everyone nodded their heads as they held their weapons close and walked down the narrow hallway. Francine's knees were heard hitting one another and her teeth were clanking together as Simon told her, "Can you stop moving?"

"I'm scared and I'm cold." Francine snapped back.

Claude hushed the two as they kept walking down the cold hallway. But Claude started to hear the sound of a chimney roaring, the air in the hallway became slightly warmer with every step, and Claude sound smell something strong that burned his nostrils; it was the smell of pepper filling the air.

Carmen pinched her nose as the teens entered a simple room; round and made out of dirt, without nothing more than a chimney and a few tables in the room. There were wooden shelves built into the wall and the chimney burned with a blazing fire. The smell of pepper burned the air as it mixed with the smell of the fire and brandy, causing tears to well up and hairs to burn at the slightly touch.

"This is the only room here?" Carmen asked as she looked at a circular well that was closed up in the middle of the room.

Claude walked farther into the room as he looked around. There was nothing close to a threat as he could see, but the smell of pepper did throw off his senses. _"Why on earth would that lizard have pepper in his house?"_ Claude asked as he looked at the brandy on the wall. He smirked at the sight of the alcoholic drink, but the smile soon fade as a noise came from the chimney.

As he looked at the chimney and backed away, Simon looked on one of the tables as what looked like a jack-in-the-box. He jumped on the table and grabbed the tag, reading "The jackbomb is a friend, but his temperment is explosive, maybe best to let him play by himself. Make him angry and fire shall come from his bad mouth."

As Claude realized the blonde teenager was on the table, Simon grabbed the toy and jumped down. But this caused something to happen he wished he didn't happen.

The floor near the fireplace began to move inwards towards the chimney, causing an old woman to jump out from it. She wore a veil that covered her hair and most of her head, her dress was a pale with a pink design by her waist, a pink corset top around her chest, and the dress went down to her ankles. Her nose was pointed and her eyes were covered by blue eye shadow.

"SIMON!" Carmen yelled in anger.

The old woman grabbed a pepper gun from her waist and said in a harsh voice, "Come here, my little chicks! Mmmm, properly served and you shall make handsome dishes."

Claude crossed his arms and said, "We're not edible."

The Duchess cocked her head and said, "Well, you're not full meals, mind you. But light snacks, I think!"

Carmen stood by Claude as she added in, saying "We are not here to be eaten. Now, you disgusting orge, make way for us and get out of Bill's house."

"Over my dead body!" The Duchess wailed.

"We shall try to help you with that!" Claude said as he pulled out his sword. Carmen pulled out her own Pepper Grinders and Simon stood in the corner with his new toy as he got out the Hobby Horse.

Francine stood in the corner as the Duchess began to run at Claude. The brunette, being skilled in martial arts, grabbed his sword and drilled it into her chest, then used it to hold himself as he jumped into the air and kicked her throat.

But as Claude pulled his sword out, the Duchess hit him and he flew to a wall with full force. She began twirling the handle of her pepper gun as multiple pepper corns came out as fast bullets. Carmen avoided the attack as she grabbed her two Pepper Grinders and began two out pepper corns at fast speeds.

But the Duchess jumped on a table as Carmen's bullets barely missed her. Then the old woman jumped off and came at such a fast speed, Carmen didn't know that she was punched to the wall until she banged her head against it and groaned next to Claude.

Simon looked in fear, but he held his Hobby Horse steady as he ran up and began hitting the Duchess. The old woman looked at him with a pitiful look as she slammed her arm against his throat and he flew towards the wall his friends were already at, coughing up blood and rubbed his the back of his head as he dropped the Hobby Horse.

The Duchess smiled at the three wounded teens, licking her fat lips as she slowly walked up towards them with her pepper gun in hand. She gave a cruel smile as she held the pepper gun at the chests of the three teens and smiled, "Time to make a nice meal."

As the three teens closed their eyes and said their final prayers as the Duchess barely touched the handle, they heard a loud thud. They opened their eyes to see the Duchess' pepper gun on the floor in brown-colored water that had white steam rising up from the ground.

The Duchess turned around to see Francine pointing her weapon at the old woman. The clock face of her watch was now a huge black metal teapot with silver detailing and a blue clock face on both sides. Depsite its large size, Francine didn't seem bother by it only being on her thin wrist. Next to her foot was the Jackbomb, the same weapon that had caused the Duchess to come out.

"You wrecthed girl!" The Duchess yelled as she ran towards Francine, forgetting her pepper gun on the floor. Francine gave a small smile as she pressed a button on the curved handle of the teapot, causing a black, round pocket watch with a blue face to shoot from the teapot with white steam behind it.

The attack hit the Duchess in the chest as the old woman was thrown into a table, screaming as she was thrown. Francine saw her chance and yelled, "Guys, get out of the way!" Her friends looked confused but saw her hold the Jackbomb in her hands as the Duchess tried to get out of the rubble she was in.

The three teens near the wall ran the best they could as Francine threw the weapon near the Duchess. Luckily for them, they were out of the way as the jack came out of the box and began turning his head slowly as fire came from his evil smile. The Duchess was not so lucky as the fire hit her and she began to burn.

The old woman shot up form the rubble she was in as she ran around in pain. Francine looked at Carmen and yelled, "Carmen, use the Pepper Grinders!"

Carmen nodded her head as she pulled out the automanic guns and pressed the buttons as pepper corns began shooting out. She directed them at the Duchess, who was still burning, and used all the Grinders's power as she kept her balance and kept eye contact the the moving Duchess.

But the Duchess grabbed her pepper gun from the floor as she tried to turn the handle as she burned, not knowing which way the handle was turned. As she turned the handle furiously, the pepper corns hit her instead and she began sneezing uncontrollably. She dropped the pepper gun as the teens watched her sneeze until finally, she gave a huge sneeze that her head burst.

"Gross!" Carmen yelled as blood, pepper corns, and black dust from the chimney covered the teens. "And I just got this outfit cleaned!"

Claude looked at the dark-skinned girl and asked, "All you are worry about are your clothes?"

"At the moment, yes." Carmen snapped as the well in the middle of the room opened up.

Bill McGill jumped from inside the well and looked around the room. "Well, you got that damn bitch out. And you saved me brandy. A double whammy deserves a double reward, don't you think?"

"Um, sure." Simon answered. He looked at the Jackbomb and said, "Can we keep this?"

Bill looked angry as he grabbed the weapon and said, "Nope. This is the only thing that will keep me safe." He took the weapon as he went to a wall and opened a door that was camouflage into the wall with the bash dirt and rocky texture. He threw the wepaon in as he began rummaging through the closet.

Claude kept his eyes on the headless Duchess as he asked, "About what the mess we made?"

Bill waved his hand without looking back as he said, "Don't worry. I will get me leeches to clean it up."

Francine and Carmen made faces to show they were disgusted and Bill came out of the closet with three very silimar yet different weapons. "Besides the Vorpal Blades, you are out of luck boy with getting a new weapon. But the Cheshire Sword is powerful enough not to need a stronger version." Bill said as he looked at Claude. The brunette looked at his sword as his friends looked at what Bill was holding.

"For the wee lass." Bill said as he walked over to Francine, only to rip her Teapot Cannon off her wrist and replace it with a silimar one. It was the same silver bracelet, but it had a new clock face. It was a golden, gargoyle-shaped teapot with a red-and-gold clock face. It had horns on its lid, and its spout was the gargoyle's head with a mouth with sharp teeth. Francine pressed the top as it came to life. She pressed the button on the handle as it released golden pocket watches that were studded with spikes, and it released red steam.

"For the scrawny lad." Bill said as he walked over to Simon, taking the Hobby Horse as he gave Simon a new version. It was a "hobby unicorn" with a silver body and head. The head had gold glowing eyes, nostrils and a single horn protruding from the forehead. The weight was pointed, resembling a diamond, and the rein was made from white leather and chains. The white-blonde mane was long and more wild than the Simon's old Hobby Horse.

"And for the smart-ass." Bill said as he walked over to Carmen, takng her Pepper Grinders as he gave her new versions. The new Pepper Grinders were fatter, with warthog-like appearances, and made from black and silver metal. The body of grinders were now a full-bodied pig, gaining four legs and the crank becoming the tail. The eyes and mouth glowed like red fire, and long, pointy tusks were present in the lower jaw. The nose had a silver ring piece through the "nostrils."

Francine smiled as she pressed the button for the new Teapot Cannon to look like a watch as Carmen smiled as she placed her new Pepper Grinders through the loops of her belt. Simon still had a disappointed look on his face as he placed his new Hobby Horse in its quiver, saying "I still have a girly weapon!"

Bill looked at Claude as his skin turned blue. "Boy, you and that redhead girlfriend of yours have the strongest weapons here. Be lucky for what you have."

Claude's face became a bright red as he stammered, "L-Lucy is not my girlfriend."

Bill shook his head in pity as he went back to the table that lead out of the house. "Now, if you lads and lassies were smart, you will follow me and I'll take you to the old train station. From there, that will take you to the Village of the Doomed."

Bill jumped into the well as the teens looked at one another. Carmen follwoed behind Bill, then Simon followed behind her with Francine at his heels, and Claude sighed as he grabbed the top of the well and closed the handmade escape hatch as he jumped in to follow his friends.


	7. Village of the Doomed

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to my seventh chapter of **_**Lucy in Wonderland!**_** I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review! **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

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Bill McGill led the teens through a long, underground tunnel as a small spot of light could be seen from afar. Bill pointed to this light and said, "That, kiddies, is the exit. Just climb on the ladder and I'll be right behind you the whole time."

The teens nodded their head as they went to the ladder and went Francine go first. She started climbing as Simon placed his hands and feet up there for him to go next. Carmen looked at Claude and asked, "Where do you think this Village of Doomed is at?"

Claude shrugged his shoulders as he said, "How should I know?"

Carmen turned around as she took her place on the ladder when Simon began climbing. Bill watched the teens climbing up as he said, "You four any use?"

"We're pretty good. Whether or not we are good here will tell in time." Claude said as he grabbed the ladder as Carmen began climbing. He watched her climb to the top and being pulled up by Simon, where he stareted to climb with Bill at his heels. "Why are you right behind me?" Claude asked in annoyance.

"Because this place can make me a coward. So hurry, boy!" The smell of brandy burned Claude's mouth and nose as he held his breath long enough to climb as fast as he could and reach the top, being pulled by Simon and Carmen. Claude stood up to see a almost-different Vale of Tears

Instead of clear blue water running in the streams, blood was now in the river and it covered the edges of land near the riverside. Two crying girl statues were now crying something other than water; one was crying out black tar that became slugs on the ground, and the second one cried out blood that filled the river. The sky was now a burnt orange and most of the trees were dead and fallen. Black oil bursted from the huge cracks in the dried-up ground and the teens, with Bill McGill at their side, was at an old abandoned railroad that looked broken down and torn to pieces.

"Welcome to the Looking Glass Railway. Or what is left of it..." Bill said as he looked at the floating pieces of the old train. He pointed at something to the side, which the teens turned around to see a huge snowglobe of with a sign saying _"Mock Turtle, Lost at Sea."_ Bill shook his head and sighed. "Poor lad, misses his job as I missed me brandy."

"Is all you think about is that brandy?" Francine asked curiously.

"Yes." Bill said a simple as he could. He walked to the old railway and picked up something, which was actually four dinner plates that were the size of queen-sized beds. There were wheels on the bottom of each plate and a strap on the top to hold something, or someone, in. "This is your ride to the Village." Bill said as he snapped the plates together with wire.

"Really? Isn't there something safer?" Carmen yelled in fear.

Bill shook his head and said, "After the railroad was destoryed, I snuck by the Hatter's minions and grabbed a few of these in case I need to head to the Village for some brandy. It's perfectly safe, and it will lead you straight to the Village in no time."

"But-"

"No buts, lassie. Just get in." Carmen looked angry as she sat on the second plate with Claude on the first plate, Simon on the third plate, and Francine tucked in the back on the fourth plate. They each snapped themselves in and held on the sides.

Bill walked up to a lever and looked at the teens. Claude gulped as he looked ahead and saw how far down it really was to the Village. He looked at Bill and asked, "You're sure this is safe?"

But as Bill glared at him and opened his mouth, the most horrible thing happened. The leeches that were created by one of the crying statues came behind Bill and attacked him. "AHH!" Bill screamed in pain as Francine screamed in fear. Bill grabbed the lever with a bloody hand and pulled on it as the plates moved at lightning speed, leaving the poor chameleon as he suffered a painful death.

The teens grabbed on to the person in front of them and yelled as the plates became going on a roller coaster-type railroad.

"We're going to die...!" Simon wailed for the second time of today as the makeshift ride went through a circle-shaped loop as he held on to Carmen for dear life.

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Claude yelled back as the ride made a sharp turn to the left, causing Francine to squeal as she almost fell off if Simon wasn't there to hold on her small arm.

The makeshift ride kept going as it took many more sharp turns and went through five more loops, Claude felt Carmen grab on around his waist as she yelled in his ear. Carmen wasn't the type to get scared easily, having to grow up with four siblings and growing up a lot from fifth grade where everything they did at Hollow Fields was dangerous, but when she did get scared even Claude worried.

The ride went up a small mountain as gravity quickly pulled it back down to where tears formed in Claude's eyes. The brunette held back a scream because he needed to look brave for the sake of his friends, but mainly because going down that small mountain took his breath away.

The Irish boy held to the sides of the plate, hoping that this horrible ride would stop soon. He could already hear the tracks squeaking and rattling as the teens passed them, and the beams holding the tracks up seem to be worn down with age. And the plates didn't look so great either because they have cracks in them as if they were going to break at any second.

Then he saw it. "Guys, hold it!" Claude yelled as their ride began to head for a small space in the ground. The one problem was that the small hole in the ground was twenty feet below them.

"We're not going to make that!" Francine yelled as she poked her head behind Simon to see where Claude was talking about.

"Just unbuckle and trust me!" Claude yelled as he undid the worn buckle on his waist that was keeping him from falling. After a second, his friends followed suit as they undid their buckles and held on to each other as the ride came closed to the end of the tracks.

Claude held his breath as the plates jerked to a stop at the end of the tracks, but the teens were thrown off the plates and towards the ground, where somehow by a mircale Claude was able to get them through the hole in the ground, which actually turned out to be bigger than expected.

The teens went through a vortex of a swirling blue color as they landed on a hard-pacted ground within a minute after jumping. Claude let go of Carmen's hand as she did the same with Simon. "Ow.. my head..." Francine moaned as Simon helped her up.

Claude slowly got up as he looked around in the area they were in.

It was a small, underground village. There were worn out, wooden bridges that were over toxic-looking waters that were black and bubbling. The houses and huts here were destoryed with some parts burnt off, but blue lights still shined through the murky and broken windows. Levels upon levels of wooden floors showed how tall the underground village was, and glowing mushrooms still grew from the baren ground.

"Where are we?" He asked to nobody in particular, except for an eavesdropping cat.

The Cheshire Cat appeared near Simon, which caused the boy to jump a little. "You're late."

Claude glared at the Cat as he looked around for someone, only to see glowing orange orbs walking in mid-air. "Thanks for the infomation. By the way, how are we supposed to find our way out of here?"

"As knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost, ask... Elder Gnome knows a thing or two and I myself don't need a weather vane to tell which way the wind blows. Let your need guide your behavior, and supress your instinct to lead." The Cheshire Cat said before he vanished, leaving the teens to once again to defend for themselves.

Francine looked around the place as she said, "Elder Gnome? What does he mean by that?"

Claude looked ahead, seeing a small hallway. "Beats me. But let's go ahead."

The teens began walking as the floating orb from before got closer and closer. Then Claude realized, at last, that the orb wasn't floating but someone had it on their back. "Excuse me! Can you help us?"

The person turned around sadly. It was a gnome with buzz-cut brown hair, black eyes, and pale skin with only red overalls covering him. He adjusted the orb on his back and he said sadly, "Our land is destoryed, out spirits crushed. Why help you when we can not help ourselves?"

Francine peeked around from behind Simon and walked to the gnome as she said, "Is there no joy here?"

The gnome sighed. "Slavery and happiness do not dwell in the same house." Before another question could be asked, the gnome ran off towards an air vent.

The teens looked confusion as they followed the gnome, only to be stopped by the Cheshire Cat again. He gestured towards the air vent and the other side of the path. "When the path is problematical, consider a leap of faith. Ride the wind."

As he disappeared, Simon mummbled something about the Cat being odd. Then the teens reached the air vent and Claude jumped as the air pulled him upwards. Claude stood there in mid-air for a second before he made his body go forward, causing him to land on the other side of the path.

Carmen was next as Simon and Francine followed suit of what their friends did. Each of them arrived to the other side safely. Carmen turned around to see a second gnome the same as the first, but he wore green overalls. "Sitr up no trouble. The enemy is ruthless, so we work to please them."

Carmen smirked as she said, "We're not afraid of them. But you should stand up to them, whoever them is exactly."

"Defiance is useless. While the new law regins, only death can release us from this toture. That or the loss of our true Queen. The master of Wonderland." The second gnome said like it was a fact.

"You mean Lucy?" Claude asked.

The second gnome did not ask or answer as he went off and kept working. Claude and his friends sighed together as they kept going on the path. They kept their weapons at hand in case of a battle, but nothing seem too dangerous at the moment.

"Where can we go?" Simon asked as the teens began walking up a plank. "I don't see a way out anytime soon." As the words left his lips, the Cat reappeared as he gave his smart-aleck smile towards Simon. The blonde groaned and said, "Not another riddle..."

The Cheshire Cat gestured towards a small keyhole that was blocked, where he said "Find Elder and he shall help you leave. But one must stay with his current task as the others go with him." Then he disappeared as Simon tried to pull his Hobby Horse out, only to be stopped by Francine.

The teens kept walking as they came to their third gnome, one with blue overalls. Francine went up to him and smiled sadly as she said, "Everyone here is completely dejected. Are things as bad as they seem?"

The third gnome huffed and said, "The truth would reduce you to a whining baby! Are you four the saviors that Rabbit was talking about before his death?"

"The White Rabbit is dead?!" Simon yelled, but nobody payed any attention to him at the moment.

Claude looked at the third gnome and said, "I don't think we're the saviors. We're just some kids who are here by mistake. But we do need to meet the Elder Gnome, if that is the person over this place."

The third gnome looked thoughtful for a second as he said, "Fine. Take you four to Elder Gnome. He knows how to help people, if only he can help out his own kind." The gnome beagn walking back down the plank as the teens hurried up to follow him.

**~0~**

The teens followed the gnome back down a different path not to far from the air vent they had to go across. They reached a small hut, concealed by the dirt and mushrooms, as the third gnome knocked on the door and yelled, "Elder, some kids here to see you!"

Before the door opened, the gnome ran off as if something was chasing him. The teens looked confuse until the door opened and someone was heard saying, "Whataya what?" The teens looked down to see a short, elderly man who had a slightly long beard that curved inwards. He wore a white, worn shirt with red dungarees and a cigar in his mouth. He also didn't have a glowing orb strapped to his back like the other did. "I'm Elder, if you care to know."

"Um... We need help..." Simon said as he saw that the man only came to Francine's thighs.

Elder laughed before a fit of coughs racked his body. Then he took in a deep breath and threw the cigar to the ground. "You need help? I need help taking care of this damn creature before he dies!"

Francine's eyes lit up as she asked, "What kind of creature are we talking about? Maybe I can help..."

Elder sighed as he pointed to the inside of the hut, which was more of the cave since there was no roof or walls. There, laying down in a pool of blood because of his blacken sores, was an once-beautiful creature; a gryphon with the brown body of a lion, and the bronze-colored wings and white feathered-face of an eagle. But he was groaning in pain as the sores ozzed out blood and tar, and his blue eyes were glazed over.

Francine covered her mouth as Elder said, "I have been watching him since this Ruin has been coming in. Poor thing and some others, namely the White Rabbit, fell victim when the first wave came in but he is holding up."

But his words were at a lost as Francine walked up to the creature. "Please, let me take care of him. I'm a vegan, I have over five pets, and I work an animal shelter. So please let me try to help him."

Elder stroked his beard as he asked, "What do you need me for?"

"Well, Cheshire said you have something we need. Can we know what that is?" Claude asked.

For a moment, something changed in the air. The Elder Gnome looked thoughtful as he said, "Oh, you need the Memory Door." He looked back at Francine, who was grabbing a cloth and some medicine. "As long as the girl stays here, then I can take you there."

Francine gave a huge smile as she began working on the wounds like she has done a million times before in the real world. "Have fun, guys! Tell me if anything interesting happens!" The Elder Gnome began pushing the three teens away from the house as they looked back at their friend one last time before he slammed the the door shut.

**~0~**

The Elder Gnome led the teens through a darken alley on the side of his house. "Nobody uses this path but me, and that's because my blimp is near!" Elder said as he took another puff of smoke from his cigar.

The teens stayed behind him a few inches to not smell the smoke, and nobody knew what to say. All three of them were very smart kids, both in school and socially, but even this was a little too weird for them. "Um... Can I ask you a question?" Claude finally said after a few minutes.

"Fire away." Elder said unhappily.

"What is going on here?" The brunette Irish boy asked with some annoyance in his voice.

For a minute, there was silence before the Elder Gnome sighed with a heavy heart. "Well, where to begin? I guess the first thing that I should say is that Wonderland wasn't even that bad even when Lucy was mad as hell. You could say over the six years, Wonderland was only 60% corrupted and that wasn't even the most important parts."

"Really?" Carmen asked with surprise in her voice.

"Yes ma'am, that's the truth there. But ever since a month ago, the corruption went from slow to high-speed since the appearance of that Ruin. First, it was the leech-like Slitherling Ruin. Not a threat unless in a pack, but we pay no mind. Then the Insidious Ruin, the the Drifting Ruin, the the Menacing Ruin, and finally the Colossal Ruin started to appear and everything went to Hell."

"So, what even created this Ruin? Lucy couldn't have because I don't think she wants to go crazier than she already is." Simon said.

The Elder Gnome shrugged his shoulders as he puffed out more smoke from his cigar. "Beats me, kid. They just showed up about a month ago and around the same time, the Looking Glass Railroad was put out of business. But I know the Red Queen didn't make, that's for sure."

"Why not? She always seem pretty evil whenever I see her in movies or books." Carmen asked as she stopped in her tracks and placed her hands on her hips, a sign that she wants an answer right that second.

The Elder gnome sighed again as he looked at the dark-skinned girl. "The Red Queen wasn't too bad. I mean yes, she did go crazy at one point that Lucy had to come in last year and kill her. That much I will admit to her being mad. But I don't think she would want her own son to die..."

"_SON?!_" The three teens yelled as the Elder Gnome led them out of the dark alley and into a small cave. But it wasn't too small because a huge, baby blue blimp stood in the middle of it with machinery around it. "Whoa..." The three teens said together as the Elder Gnome led them one of the machines, which looked like a huge computer.

As the Elder Gnome worked on the computer and the teens waited for an answer, he huffed and said "Of course the Queen has a son! She needed a heir to take over if she died. Knave of Hearts, that was him. An illegal bastard of the Red Queen and the original Knave of Hearts, who was killed after his son was born."

"The Knave became good friends with Lucy, that some even said he loved her. Too bad the boy died all of a sudden. Disappeared one day and when he was found, the lad was slowly dying though not as bad as the Gryphon is at the moment. He gave his mother his necklace and told her if Lucy came back, give it to her." As the Elder Gnome finished his chattering, he turned around and looked at Claude as he pulled something out of his pocket.

The gnome threw something at Claude, which the brunette caught easily but with some surprise. Claude looked at the Elder Gnome as he said, "Well, if Lucy wouldn't take the necklace then the Knave's double might as well." Claude cocked an eyebrow as he opend his hands to reveal a beautiful necklace; it was a small, crystal red heart with golden lining on a thin, black string. "Have it, boy." Elder said as he continued to work on the machine.

Claude looked confuse as he placed the locket in his pocket. "What do you mean I'm the Kanve's double?"

"You look a lot like him. Makes me think..." The Elder Gnome trailed off as he flipped a switch and looked at the teens as a small buzzing noise was heard. "The keyhole is open now. But let's get you to that Memory Door."

Elder led the teens to behind the computer and pulled up a silk red curtain. There, behind the curtain, was a grey wooden door with flames dancing behind it and a name in bold names on the top: _**SNOW**_.

Carmen had her mouth opened as she said, "This is Lucy's memory? Isn't it wrong for us to go in?"

Elder wave his hand absently. "Don't mind that. Lucy came and went inside, saying her only goal here was to find out what really happened the night of the fire. But that doens't mean you could have played a part." The Elder Gnome opened the door and gestured inside.

The teens looked unsure for a moment before Claude walked foward and went inside the door, the flames not harming him as the door closed.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Claude opened his eyes to see a strange scene; he was back in the household of the Snow family, at the same moment Lucy was walking him to the door.**_

_**Before he could say anything, the ghostly voice of Lucy was heard. "I remember this. I had just walked Claude to the front door and saw him leave when one of Papa's undergraduates shoved pass me." As Lucy tried to close the door, Claude saw a tall, angry-looking young man with some hair on his face and glasses push pass Lucy.**_

_**Lucy closed the door as her voice was heard again. "It was that Dales young man, but Papa nor Phoebe did not say a word about him after I got back outside."**_

_**Then everything went black.**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR ENDS]**_

Claude walked back out as his head began to spin. He remembered seeing that undergraduate when he had stromed out of the house, but he paid no attention to him at all. Was that a clue to what had happened, or did Lucy just placed that there for no reason?

"Well, how was it?" Carmen asked.

Claude regain his composure as he said, "It was fine." He took in a deep breath as the Elder Gnome pried the boy from the Memory Door. The brunette looked at Carmen and Simon as he lied, "It was nothing really."

As the Elder Gnome shook his head in disbelief, something happened. A high-pitched, girlish scream as heard back towards the house. "FRANCINE!" The three teens yelled as they began bolting towards the house.

They ran as fast as the could, but right when the got to the house, Francine ran out with tears in her eyes as she screamed. "What the hell is going on?" Carmen yelled as Claude and Simon tried to calm Francine down.

The small girl pointed at the house and said, "T-The Gry-Gryphon m-melted into a pile of blood and t-tar! H-His eyes popped out and his h-h-head broke off, then R-Ruin c-c-came in!"

Simon held the pigtailed girl's shoulders as the house began to be covered in black tar with doll heads showing in random places. The Elder Gnome came by and said, "Damn it! You kids have to get out of here..."

"But where can we go?" Claude asked.

"Go see the White Queen. She can help you, hopefully." The Elder Gnome said as he pointed at a small keyhole. "Go through the keyhole and the Looking Glass Realms should be on the other end of the woods. GO!"

The teens didn't need to be told twice as they ran towards the keyhole as the Ruin covered more of the area. They did not look back at the Elder Gnome, scared to see what would happen to him. They all hiccup at once as they grew small and ran through the keyhole, hoping the nothing would chase them.

Once they were outside, they hiccup again as they grew back to their normal size and they entered a lush forest that looked silimar to what the Vale of Tears looked like. They could hear the Ruin coming out from the Village of the Doomed.

Francine fell to her knees as tears ran down her face. "I t-t-tried to help. B-But.. But it came so f-f-fast that I couldn't stop it..."

Carmen kneel next to her friend and patted her shoulders. "It's okay. None of us blame you."

As Francine wiped her tears away, Claude looked ahead of them and cocked his head to get a better angle of where they should go. "I guess we can keep walking. I can't tell where this forest ends or where it begins. How does that plan sound?" But all him got was silence.

Claude turned around to see all of his friends on the ground, sleeping. He felt some anger about how they could sleep at this time, but he began feel too lightheaded to be angry. He held his head as he kneel to the ground, and his vision began to go blurry. Finally, he laid his head down as his eyes closed slowly.

When Claude opened up his eyes, he was in the common room of the asylum.


	8. Back to Reality

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to the eighten chapter of "Lucy in Wonderland"! Please leave a review**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Claude felt pain shot down his side as he tried to regain his vision. Everything seem blurry and out of focus, and he had the strange taste of metal in his mouth.

"Well, well. Looks like we can get our revenge, brother." A deep, brutish voice said. Claude opened his eyes to see Brick and Breck standing over him with a hatchet saw. "Now, where can we cut you at?"

"You will not lay a hand on him, Brick!" A young, womanly voice said as a tall, blonde nurse pushed the two out of Claude's vision. "Now, get back to work!" Claude felt the nurse jerk something from his mouth as she leaned down and said, "Are you okay?"

"Hum-Hum, Hum..." Claude said as Diana helped him up. The young nurse giggled as the brunette stood up and saw his friends sitting down in chairs, all three of them looking out of focus a little. "What... What happened?"

Diana gave him a thoughtful look as she sat him down in a seat. "Well, you four came down her earlier and all of a sudden, you fainted. I tried to wake you up for over an hour, but I finally decided to go get a senior nurse. Are you sure you okay?"

Claude rubbed his head as he said, "We fainted?"

"Yes. Just sit down for a little bit, and I will be at the front desk if you need something." Diana said as she turned around and left the room.

Claude looked around and saw he was in the common room, which could be the right definition for the room. It was a large, circular room with floor-to-ceiling windows, which gave the room its only light. Whicked chairs sat around small, wooden tables and some had games; mostly checkers for what it looked like. There was a small jukebox in the corner of the room, and a sofa was sat in front of a small TV. The paitents in the room looked horrible; some were rocking back and forth, some were mummbling, and some were laughing like crazy or crying.

"Ugh, my head..." Simon complained.

"Simon, you don't need to complain about your head when we are surrounded by people who are in worst condition." Francine pointed out as she held her own head, but only with one hand.

Claude let out a long, deep breath as he relaxed a little. His heart began to slow down and his vision returned to him. But then, like a sudden shot of lightning in his mind, his heart began to ran again as he remembered what had happened in Lucy's room. "Guys.."

"Yeah?" All three of his friends asked at the same time.

"Was that all a dream?" Claude asked with as much seriousness he could muster, which sounded like a lot.

All three of the teens looked at one another as they thought about his question. Then, Carmen looked at him with a serious glare in her eyes and said, "Claude, that couldn't have been real if we had just fainted."

Simon and Francine nodded in agreement, but something in the back of Claude's mind was nagging at him that everything they saw and experienced in that dreadful world _was_ real. The nagging in his mind also told him to reach into his pocket and check it. The brunette felt his hand go down to his pocket as it reached inside and felt something hard. Something on a long, thin string.

Claude pulled out the thing in pocket, which caused Simon and Carmen to gasp; it was the heart-shaped, ruby heart with golden lining on a long, thin black string. Then same one the Elder Gnome had given Claude, saying that he was the Knave's double. As Claude held it, he could have sworn that it was beating like a real heart between his fist.

"No way... so you mean, that everything we saw... We were actually in Wonderland?" Carmen asked in surprise. Claude nodded his head numbly as he leaned into his chair. "But how..?"

"Maybe Lucy's really in trouble." Francine said simply.

"What do you mean by that?" Simon asked in a worried voice, never taking his eyes off the heart necklace.

"Well, would you let someone deep into your fantasy world unless you were in serious trouble?" Francine asked as she watched Claude get up from his seat and place the necklace back into his pocket. She got up herself as Carmen and Simon did the same, all three watching Claude go to the door as Francine asked, "Claude, where are you going?"

Claude didn't answer, so the three followed him as they left the common room. All they saw in there anyways was red and white chess pieces being thrown around, so it was best that they leave that room anyways.

"McGinty, where the hell are you think you are going?" Carmen yelled as she caught up with him.

"We need to know the people around Lucy, Obivously, whoever she has been around hasn't been helping her like they were supposed to." Claude said as the four teens reached the front desk. Diana was writing away on her clipboard as she looked up and smiled at the four.

"May I help you?" Diana asked sweetly as she sat the clipboard down.

"Um, yeah. We need some names of people that Lucy may know or her family knew." Claude asked.

"Okay. May I ask why?" Diana said with worry in her eyes.

Claude was taken back by the question because he really didn't have a good reason to go around town and meet random people he didn't know. But he shallowed his fear and said, "We just want to know some information. About the fire, about Lucy's condition, and about Lucy's family."

Diana looked unconvinced, but she ripped a sheet out and said, "I guess I can give you some names. Truth be told, I know very few people that know Lucy myself. But I think I can help.." Diana took a pen and tapped her chin with it as she thought. "Well, there is the storage place the Snow family kept their stuff at because they were going to move into a new house in Nullsville that summer."

As Diana wrote down the name of the storage room, Francine went off into a daydream and started to look around. Then, as she turned around in the same spot, she spotted a small white kitten in the doorway. She smiled as she kneel down and cooed, "Here kitty, kitty."

As she gestured for the kitten to come to her, Diana kept going about the people Lucy knew or encounter. "There's Nurse Witless, who worked here but was at Saint Mary's when Lucy came in that night. There's Nan Sharpe, who was the nanny for Phoebe and Lucy, but she works at the Mangled Mermaid now. There's Chitose Kaioh, who was the laywer for the Snow Family. Then, there is Dr. Oliver Whitfield, who worked with Lucy and shouldn't be leaving until the end of the week. And finally, there is Dr. Edward Dales at the Wayward Orphanage and is a well-known phychiartist who uses hypnotherapy."

As Diana handed Claude the piece of paper, she pointed at the address for the storage building where the remaining belongings of Lucy's family is at. "That's the closest, so go there first."

Claude nodded his head as he stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket. He looked at his friends, which now was down to Simon and Carmen. Francine was outside with the white kitten as the three followed her outside. Then, Claude took the piece of paper back out and looked to the left side of the street.

Claude begen walking down the street as he said, "Well, let's head to that storage building."

The other three agreed as Francine picked up the kitten and began skipping with a huge smile on her face. "I think I'm going to name her Snowdrop."

"Francine, that cat may have rabies!" Simon said in a panic voice.

But the smaller girl ignored him as Snowdrop rubbed her face against Francine's own. The four kept going down the street as Claude checked all of the street names, looking for the storage building.

Then, as they turned the corner, Snowdrop meowed and jumped from Francine's arms. The pigtailed girl whined as she took chase after the cat, yelling "Snowdrop, bad kitty! Come back here!"

Her three friends were in shock as she left them, but after a second they took chase after her. "Francine, come back here!"

But their cries were useless as Francine stopped anyways as she realized that Snowdrop was too far gone for her to catch up. As her friends caught up to her, she turned around with a pout and said in a sweet voice, "Simon, can you get me a new kitty?"

The blonde boy had to turn around as he mummbled, "Not going to fall for the sparkle act, no way Francine."

"Yeah, that cat could have been dangerous anyways." Claude pointed out.

"And the sparkle act is old anyways." Carmen said not to be mean, but to let her friend know she needed a new way to trick people.

But their words hit Francine the wrong way as crocodile tears began to form in her eyes. With plently of adults around on the streets, Francine let out a huge sniff and she began bawling as all of the adults looked at her with pity and sadness. They gather around her as her friends stared in shock.

"Are you okay?", "What's wrong, sweetie?", and "Please stop crying, dangling." was thrown around as Francine mummbled about her losing her favorite cat and her friends not caring the least bit for her pain.

Claude smirked and looked at Simon. "Great, now you have done it..."

"Don't prentend you had no part in it, McGinty!" Simon yelled as he walked over to Francine and picked her up by throwing her over his shoulder. "Let's go!"

Carmen and Claude looked at each other as they laughed as they began to catch up with Simon, with an arguing Francine over his shoulder. Once they were caught up and they were away form the adults, Simon put Francine down and said, "Francine, you're my best friend and all, but never do that again!" Francine rolled her eyes as Claude checked the address they were at.

"We're here..." Claude said as they were at the storage building, and he walked up to the intercom at the gate and pressed it. "We are here to check out... Building 506B."

"506B?"

"Yes." Claude said. The gate opened and the teens walked in as they searched around the buildings. As they looked at the white building with black roofs and red metal doors, Francine looked down at the ground as she kept thinking about Snowdrop.

Claude kept looking at the paper in his hands and he gripped his jacket as the harsh winds made it hard to keep warm and focus. "Where is this building?"

"Maybe they sold it. There are some people that come to storage buildings and they are sold off. Anything in there is free game then." Carmen pointed out.

"Well, let's hope that Lucy's storage was not sold yet." Claude said as he checked the numbers.

As the teens kept going, Francine grabbed her arms due to the cold wind. She shivered as something white and fluffy purred against her leg, so she looked down the same time Claude said "Found it!"

They had reached storage building 506B, which looked no different than the others. As Claude and Simon went over to pull the door up, Francine gasped as she saw Snowdrop rubbing against her legs. She cooed as she reached down to grab her new pet, only for the cat to run off.

"SNOWDROP!" Francine yelled as she took off to catch her animal.

Her friends had heard her and yelled at the same time, "Not again!" They forgot about the building as they chased after Francine, who has just turned the corner of the last building of the row. "How did that cat find her again?" Simon yelled as the teens reach the corner and turned to see a shocking sight.

Francine was laying on the ground, completely unconscious. Snowdrop stood next to her as the cat meowed innocently. Simon was about to walk over and kicked the cat, but Carmen held him back as he said "What did you do to her, you damn cat?"

"Simon, I don't think the cat..." Before Carmen even finished, she grew weak to the knees and fainted next to her friends.

"CARMEN!" The boys yelled.

Simon looked at Claude and said, "What is going on here?"

Claude kept looking at his two unconscious friends as he shrugged his shoulders. "For once, I do not know what is going on here."

"Well, figure it out or else-" Like Carmen, Simon never finished as he grew weak to his knees and fell unconscious to the ground. Before Claude could say anthing, the same weak feeling came over him as he crumpled to the ground and fell into unconsciousness.

**~0~**

Claude woke up to a bright, white sky that was cloudless. In fact, it just looked like the ground when fresh snow has fallen on it. He also felt his arms tied behind his back and he knew for a fact that at the moment he woke up, he was being carried into something.

The brunette shot up as he saw life-sized, white knight chess pieces. They jumped as they carried Claude and Carmen, who was under him at the moment, to a huge white castle. The ground that the wagon was being pulled on was basically a white-and-black checkered boarder.

"Excuse me, but what are you think you are doing?" Claude snapped.

A knight piece looked at him as the wagon kept going to the castle. "We are taking you to the current commander-in-cheif."

"Yeah, yeah. But where are we may I ask? And where is my other two friends? The girl with the auburn hair and the blonde boy?' Claude asked in his annoyed voice.

"You are in the Looking Glass Lands, Pale Realm. The girl was taken back to her kingdom, the vile Red Realm, and the boy who speak of _is_ the commander-in-chief." The knight piece said as the drawbridge lowered and the wagon entered it.


	9. The Looking Glass Realms

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to the ninth chapter of **_**"Lucy in Wonderland**_**". This one will explain some things you have questions about from the perivous chapter. Enjoy and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Carmen and Claude were being dragged into the Pale Realm, which they studied curiously. It was a huge, white castle with white-and-black checkered tiles and a white-and-black checkered sky, where stars could be seen through the black squares. All of the residents were life-sized, white chess pieces; pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks.

As they began going up a ramp, Claude had the feeling to turn his head to see behind him. When he did, he saw the Cheshire Cat grinning at the two. "Well, looks like trouble has found you again."

"And you're as annoying as ever." Carmen said as she finally got out from under Claude, with only her feet left to worry about.

Claude ignored what Carmen had said as the dark-skinned girl leaned against the side. He looked at the Cat and asked, "Have a a question for you; why are we back in Wonderland and how did we leave in the first place?"

"Aw, a strong and curious mind you have. The answer is simple; Lucy both wants you here to help yet is afraid to let you see into her madness." The Cheshire Cat said as the wagon got off the ramp and went towards a huge set of double doors.

Claude thought about it for a moment before he said, "So, she lets us be here to help her. But when something she is afraid for us to see because to show how mad she is, her mind sends us back into the real world."

All the Cat did was nod his head as he disappear when they enter the huge room on the other side of the double doors. One of the knights went up to the wagon and cut the bonds holding the two as the wagon stopped and they saw who the commander-in-cheif was.

_"SIMON?!"_ Carmen and Claude yelled as they saw the tall blonde sitting upside down in the throne as he balanced a white crown on his left foot.

The tall boy turned right side up as the crown fell to the ground and gave his crooked grin. "GUYS! I was worried that someone had have killed you!"

Carmen glared at him as she and Claude exit the wagon. "Well, someone was looking on the bright side of things."

Simon grinned as the doors opened and an old, human-looking knight came wobbling in on a cane. He was as white as his armour, his hairline was completely gone, and he seem weak and frail. He wobbled to the throne and bowed as he said, "Your Majesty, we have a problem."

Carmen and Claude looked confuse, and they looked at Simon, who was turning red. He rubbed the back of his head nervously and chuckled as he said, "Well, I can explain this..."

But before he could finish, Carmen grabbed his collar and threw him to the ground. She laid on top of him and beat him up, all while saying "YOU IDOIT! YOU ARE THE SINGLE MOST IMPLUSIVE AND RECKLESS PERSON EVER TO BE A LEADER!" Simon held his arms up in defense as Claude pulled Carmen off, who still looked beyond angry.

Simon got up and said, "What was that for?"

"For not telling us you're leader! Oh, and there is leaving us behind and you had us tied up!" Carmen said as Claude could have sworn steam was coming from her ears.

"I didn't have to tied up!" Simon yelled as he brushed some dirt off his shirt. He turned around and looked at the now-shocked old man. "Charlie, what was happened?" He asked as formally as he could.

The old man, who must have been Charlie, sighed as he rubbed his head. "The King, as you know, has gone missing. But now, the Queen have ben taken by the vile Red Knights."

Simon's face went whiter than usual, if that was possible. He gulped as he said as formally as possible, "And what was the meaning of this kidnapping?"

"I do not know. But please, save your Queen. Without her, then the Pale Realm should surely perish." Charlie begged, now on his knobby knees.

Simon sighed as he looked at his friends and hoped for some back-up against this crazy plan. Claude looked unsure because he wanted to help but he didn't know how to. Finally, he gulped as he looked at Simon with cold eyes. "Simon, we're suppose to help Lucy and this would be helping her in way. Plus, playing chess, I know that the Queen is the most powerful piece, so this Realm would perish. Also, we have something..."

"What? A plan?" Simon asked, his voice perking up.

Claude shook his head as he gulped again. He knew how Simon may take this, being over protective and everything to her. "Simon, the Red Realm has Francine."

Everything and everyone in the room had become quiet. Simon's face was now colorless and Carmen looked confuse and shock, knowing that Simon would react in an implusive way. But a second after Claude told him, the blonde looked at Charlie and said, "We're going. No questions asked, just tell us where to go."

Charlie bowed his head as he wobbled up and started to moved slowly to the double doors. Carmen looked at Simon for a second before she slapped him upside the head. "SEE? THAT IS WHAT I CALL IMPLUSIVE!"

Simon rubbed the side of his head as he looked at Carmen with serious eyes. "Carmen, you heard that Francine is in the Red Realm. And what I have heard about that place, it is not a great place to live in. She could be in danger!"

Carmen huffed as she crossed her arms. Claude, being the person in the middle, sighed as he got betwen the two, knowing a fight would break out as it usually does. "Guys, stop acting like kids. Carmen, we _do_ have to get Francine back. But Simon, act a little mature for once."

The two stubborn teens huffed as they agreed silently to not argue. As they stopped the bickering, the knight Charlie came back in with only a small Pawn behind him. The Pawn was a small piece with a head on the top that had a huge eye. It made a small squealing sound and jumped as Charlie said, "Deliver this to the other side."

Even Claude, the one trying to keep sane in all of this, stood there with an open mouth as he stammered "A.. A pawn?! That's the best we can hope for?!"

Charlie stepped back, but never looked afraid. The Pawn jumped towards Carmen and spinned once in the air, causing it to become as small as piece of lint. Even though it was small, it jumped high into the air and fell into Carmen's pocket.

The old knight looked at the three teens as he wobbled over to Claude. He looked the boy up and down before his eyes settled on the Alpha pedant around Claude's neck. He tapped it twice as he said, "You need to show your alliance with us."

Claude looke confused as Charlie did the same with Simon's snake pedant and Carmen's Jupiter symbol pedant. When he tapped all three twice, he backed away as the teens were enveloped in a bright white light and their clothes were replace in a blink of an eye.

The three now wore pure white armour; the breastplate was pure white and bulky yet they felt light-weighted. Their arm protectors and leg protectors covered their legs and arms, and they were also the same pure white color. A white chain hemlet with a hard cap was pulled back and the chain-metal skirt was also white with golden detailing. Their chokers were now white and there pedants seem to be their crest on their chest plates.

Carmen looked at her armour for a second as she said, "This is pretty awesome!" Simon and Claude looked at each other in confusion over Carmen's love for clothes.

Charlie bowed again as he said, "Follow the Rooks." Two white, musuclar men with hooked hemlets on stands came sliding in. "They shall lead you, but be careful."

"Why?" Simon asked.

Before they could get an answer, the double doors bursted open as red Rooks and Pawns came running in. The teens yelled as they started to follow the white Rooks, who were already leaving. Charlie, even with his old age, grabbed a sword that looked much like Claude's sword and yelled.

The teens ran through a side door as Charlie dove head first into the Red Army, only to go down with a yell of pain as he was stabbed.

**~0~**

One word to describe the process from getting to the throne room to the gateway to the Red Realm; exhausting.

Red Pawns and Rooks had envaded the white castle, along with Red Bishops and Knights. The Knights were horses with hemlets on their heads, a shield in the left hand, and a lance in their right hand. The Bishops were tall, stoic pieces in dresses and crown-like headgear with a long crook in their hands.

So, in other words, the three had to fight off these enemies as the other white chess pieces tried to help them. Thankfully, all of their weapons from their first trip from Wonderland was back with them somehow.

"How many damn Pawns are there?" Carmen yelled as they ran across the top floor, and she shot down some pepper form her Pepper Grinders.

The three teens ran as the Rook, who was surprisingly fast, led them towards the gateway to the Red Realm. It seem like an all-out war had started between the time Claude had entered the castle to now; downstairs, the white and red chess pieces were fighting as the three teens were led up a flight of stairs.

Then the Rook stopped at the top of the stairs as the doors open and he pointed the way down. Claude looked at him for a second before running inside and his friends following. "Thanks!" Carmen yelled as the doors slammed shut.

Inside the other side of the door was the same white-and-black room as the rest of the castle. But, there was a pathway that led to a golden door on the upper part of a wall opposite of the three teens. The path also led downwards to a door on the lower part of the wall opposite of the teens.

"So, which way?" Simon asked.

Claude looked at both paths. He knew that the path up was most likely the way to the Red Realm, but the path that led down held something. _"But what if it's a trap, and we fall right into it?" _He thought.

As he decided which path to go on, the Cat reappeared with his scary smile. "The pathway that looks like the one you should go, take the other way."

"What does that mean?" Simon yelled as the Cat disappeared.

Claude looked at the path that led downwards. Then, he took the path downwards as he said "Come on. There is something down here, and we need to check it out." He could hear Simon groaning as him and Carmen followed him downstairs.

The three walked down the flat, sprialing path as they saw a wooden door with something flickering behind it. As they got closer, Claude squinted his eyes and saw it was a wooden door with flames behind the window and the name _**SNOW**_.

"A piece of Lucy's memory... Why is this here?" Carmen asked

"Maybe we need to know something." Claude said as he closer. As he reached the doorknob, he saw the Omega symbol written on the silver knob. As he tried to get a closer look, it quickly changed to the Aphla symbol, the same one as the pedant on his choker. He reached for his choker as he grabbed the knob and turned it. "You guys stay here..." Claude said as he opened the door and went inside.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Claude opened his eyes to see the library. He remembered it once when Lucy asked him to come over when her parents were gone to study. At that time, he didn't think her parents owned the house and thought they were renting it.**_

_**It was a smal library with books filling the shelves. But in a second, photography equipment filled the room with cameras, film strips, and oils near the roaring fireplace.**_

_**Then Lucy's ghostly voice came. "Our lovely library was a fire trap. A conflagration waiting to happen!" Then everything went black.**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR ENDS]**_

Claude came out and was completely alone. He shook his head as the door shut one last time and he saw armen and Simon already at the top of the pathway. "Sorry, but you were taking too long!" Carmen yelled.

Claude sighed as he got up and began walking back up the path. But this time, he continued on as he turned a sharp corner and walked up the path the led upwards. "Guys, wait up." Claude said in anger as his friends stopped and waited on him.

He finally caught up as the golden door glowed with power. Claude looked at it as all three of them began walking up and finally got to the door. Carmen and Claude looked at Simon, who asked "What?"

"You're the so-called commander-in-cheif. You open the door and lead us into battle." Carmen said with some sarcasm in her voice.

Simon rolled his eyes as he pushed pass his friends. His hand shook slightly as he grabbed the handles, and he opened the door to reveal a swirling vortex of green and purple. "Wow... Maybe this is a bad idea, kind of." Simon said as he tried to turn around, but Carmen grabbed his arms and held it tight.

Claude grabbed the second arm with a smirk on his face. Then the two teens led a reluctant Simon through the vortex.

**~0~**

The three teens entered a world of red-and-white rooms. The walls were blood red, and the floors and ceilings were red-and-white checkered. Everything seem bloody with the red and the white made it seem so delicate. The sky was the same white-and-black checker boarder, but it seem bloodier.

"This is actually pretty." Carmen said as she dropped Simon, who fell on his butt on the floor. "So, where is the White Queen and where is Francine?"

"The best way to find that out by looking for them." Claude said as Simon got up and rubbed his bum.

As they began walking, the doors opened to reveal red Bishops coming at them. "Really? Not five minutes and they come at us already?" Simon complained as he grabbed the Hobby Horse and slammed it down, causing a crack in the ground where the Bishops fell in.

The three began running through the doors the Bishops came in through, and all they saw red Pawns coming at them from the staircase. Claude sighed as he grabbed something from his pockets, which were the Demon Dice. He backed away as he threw the Dice, causing them to hit one Pawn as they fell down on the floor. Then, a huge black figure appeared as the Dice glowed and the Pawns, seeing them demon, ran away or died on the spot.

"Nice going, Claude." Carmen said as they continue to run and Claude grabbed the Dice, placing them back into his pocket.

The three ran up a flight of stairs as more doors opened to reveal red Rooks and Knights now after them. Good thing that the teens had faster legs than the chess pieces, giving them a good start as the red pieces had to wobble up the stairs to catch up.

The three turned right as a set of doors opened, but not to reveal any chess pieces. Claude looked back for a second as he nudged Simon in the side. "You still have those playing cards?" Simon smirked as he pulled the cards out and turned around, and then threw them at the chess pieces.

The cards slash through each chess piece again and again, until all of them were sliced up. As the three ran through the doors, the cards returned to Simon's hands as he stuffed them back into his pocket. Then the doors slammed shut as the three teens fell down due to being tired from running.

"Good God, there is too many of these guys." Carmen said as he leaned against the wall, where a window was next to her.

Claude and Simon nodded their heads as they caught their breath. The first to regain their composure was Claude, whom caught his breath and held on to his sword. He looked around and his eyes laid on the window. From where he was standing, he could see red pieces and a white piece under a guillotine. And on a throne, it looked like a human girl.

"Guys, look." Claude said as the three kneel down to the floor and looked through the window at the edge, just so they will not be spotted.

Red Knights, Bishops, and Rooks stood around the guillotine. A tall chess piece stood near the guillotine; it looked like a king with his red robes, crown, and bread on his face. He had a stone-cold face and was carrying a staff. Under the blade of the guillotine, ther was an old human woman who was completely white; her short and curly hair was white, a white gown, a white tiara, and pale white skin. She was struggling as she was strapped to the guillotine.

As the teens watched the blade raise, they could hear through a crack that a small voice was speaking from the throne it were sitting on. The king chess piece turned and waved his hand, like the person of the voice was just an annoyance to him. The person of the voice huffed and it sounded like they sat back down.

"What's going to happen?" Carmen asked as the blade reached its highest point.

But nobody answer her as the blade dropped and cut the woman's head off. The woman's screaming died as her head dropped to the ground, but the person on the throne gavce a high-pitched yell and ran to the King piece, revealing it was a familiar girl.

_"FRANCINE?!"_ Simon, Carmen, and Claude whisper-yelled as the small girl yelled at the King and kneel down to the head of the dead White Queen. But it wasn't because she was there, but more like what she was wearing.

Her usual pigtails were gone and replaced with a high ponytail, held by a golden strap. She wore red Arabian-style shoes, long blood red bedlah pants, a blood red top that shows both her breast cleavage and bellybutton, and a ruby-adorned golden headband on her forehead. She wore bangle-like, triangular earrings that were golden and covered her ears. She also had two ruby brooches - one on her chest and the other over her navel. She had golden organza shoulders for the bandeau top she wore, while the billowed pants had a transprent light red overskirt, with designs of golden Fleur-de-lys.

The three stood there is shock as Francine's voice was clearly heard. "You disgusting, vile, and monstrous chess piece! How could you kill someone who had no intention of hurting you?"

Claude looked at his friends as Francine talked to the Red King, acting like this was a normal conversation. Carmen looked equally shocked, but they clearly knew how Simon felt as he grabbed his Hobby Horse and slammed through the wall that blocked them from Francine. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Carmen yelled as the dust covered them form the red chess pieces.

Simon looked at as she and Claude got up. "If we couldn't save the Queen, then let's save Francine at least." He said as the red chess pieces finally saw them and began to charge. Francine squealed with happiness as the Red King began to back away slowly.

The three teens got out their weapons as the first shot was from Carmen, who took down some Rooks pretty easily. Then she grabbed her croquet mallet and attacked an on-coming Bishop, who stood there was eletric currents went through him before falling.

"Start fighting, you two!" Carmen yelled.

The two boys didn't have to be told twice as three Knights came at them, but the boys moved thanks to their Dodging ability. The Knights struck ground as the teenage boys appeared behind them, the slashed at their backs.

Claude grabbed his sword and turned around at the right time to kill some Rooks, who had their heads off just like the Queen's. Simon grabbed his Hobby Horse and slammed some Bishops out fo the way, causing them to fly to the wall and break into a million pieces. As one Knight came near Simon, the blonde-haired boy kicked it in its chest as he slammed the Hobby Horse into its head, causing it to roll off.

Even though it look like they were doing good, thr three teens knew that there was too many chess pieces to fight off. As more and more chess pieces arrived, they knew that this may be it. Until...

_BOOM!_ A hot, steaming liquid came out of nowhere and destoryed the just-arriving chess pieces. The three looked around until they saw Francine standing there with her Teapot Cannon. "Well, come on! We have to find the Red King!" She yelled as her friends followed her through a flight of stairs to where a set of doors were closing at the top.

The four somehow slipped through the crack the doors had made and a strand of Carmen's hair was almost caught as the door slammed shut, closing the teens in a new room. The walls were gone and the floor were the same red-and-white checker board. At the opposite side of the room, the Red King stood at a throne and moved down. "Who are you?" He asked in a cold voice.

"We're here to take revenge on the White Queen!" Carmen said foolishly.

The face of the Red King did not move, but the air changed as he charged towards the teens and almost hit them with his staff, which they dodge using their Shrinking ability.

They ran from him as he continued to swing his staff, hoping he would get someone. But each kid was in each corner of the wall-less room as the King tried to find them. Simon looked over at Francine and asked, "Why can't he get us?"

But the King heard him and ran over to the corner Simon was at. The boy stood there for a second before he disappeared into butterflies and Dodge the staff, which casued a huge hole in the spot the blonde boy was at. "Okay, that answer my question." Simon mummbled as the blind Red King looked around for his target.

The teens began running as the Red King heard their footsteps and tried to chase one, but he could only get a leg here and there. But, the odd thing was about the fight, everythime someone used their weapon against the King, he wasn't hurt at all or he moved in time.

Finally, Carmen stomped her foot and yelled at Francine, "We can't defeat him!" The blind King heard her and charged at her, but she Dodge it in time. She grabbed her Pepper Grinders and shot a row at the King, but they just made dents on him.

As Carmen's bullets dent the King, Francine dug inside the pockets of her Arabian pants furiously. "I know it's in here..." She mummbled as the boys guard her, making sure that the small girl isn't hurt. Then, a smile spread across her facer as she said "YES!" She pulled out a thin wooden stick with a blue-silver crystal on the top. She tapped each boy's shoulder and said, "Move out of the way."

The boys looked reluctant, but they moved anyways as they charged at the Red King. Simon slammed the Hobby Horse against the stand the King stood on, and Claude slashed at the front to protect Carmen as the dark-skinned girl kept shooting at the King. "Francine, hurry up with this plan of yours!" Claude yelled, which caused the King to raise his staff over the brunette's head.

As Claude held his arms over his head, Francine pointed the wand at the King as it shot out a blue light. The light covered the King in a shield of ice, where Francine yelled "Guys, kill him now!"

The three quickly acted as they attacked the now-frozen King; Simon slammed the Hobby Horse at the feet and caused the lower part of the King to be destroyed. Carmen kept shooting the Pepper Grinders at the head of the King, and Claude slashed up the King as he became only a small piece of a red piece.

All four teens stood there, completely tired, as Francine wobbled over there and stood next to Simon. "Guys, thanks for saving me. I had no idea why they kidnapped me, but it was degrading anyways when they put me in this." She gestured to her outfit as her friends cracked a smile.

As the four caught their breath, they felt the ground shake and Carmen felt something in her pocket. She watched the white Pawn jump out from her pocket and transformed by a white light. Soon, it became a replica of the old woman the was killed: the White Queen.

"Wow, looks like everything isn't going to Hell..." Simon joked as the floor became red, black, and white. The sky became less bloody looking, and the red room started to show some white and black designs.

All four smiled as the White Queen slid over to the throne that the Red King was at earlier. The doors opened to show a bloody Charlie, who wobbled over to the teens and kneel down to Simon. "Sir, I have defeated the Red Pieces."

Simon gave the old man a pitiful look a she kneel to met the old man's eyes and smiled weakly. "Charlie, you didn't have to do that. You are already a brave soldier, but you didn't have to fight off all of those pieces by yourself."

Charlie smiled as he choker up some blood. "I live for orders. But I must tell you something; go to the Hatter's Domain. The new Queen can rebuild this kingdom, but the Hatter's Domain has something fishy going on there. Please, go there and help Lucy. I am just glad the Ruin has not come here yet... I just wish..." Before he could finish, he cough violently before falling down dead.

Francine held her mouth as tears well up, and Claude grabbed her shoulders to steady the sensitive girl. Simon got up and ran his fingers through his hair, and Carmen just looked shock to the core.

"What do we do now?" Carmen asked.

As Claude opened his mouth, a bright light enevloped the teens and the armours on Claude, Carmen, and Simon disappeared and Francine's Arabian outfit also disappeared. They were all replaced with new outfits. All Claude and Simon wore the same white armour, but it had red hearts on the skirt and chest plate now.

But Carmen and Francine wore dresses that had a knee-length skirt that fanned out. The strap-less dresses had a white skirt resembling the lower half of a chess piece, and a red bodice was base on a rook. Their stockings were red-and-white striped, and their knee-high boots are made from a shiny red material and resemble pawns. They wore red and white shoulder guards based on knight pieces, and vambraces based on bishops. Their pinafore is checked like a chess board. Their pendants were white and is tied to a red and white striped choker. The bow on the back of the dresses is parted by the King's piece.

"New outfits? But why?" Carmen, out of all people, asked.

The Cheshire Cat appeared next to the new White Queen, and the teens turned around to see him. "An alliance between two rivals have begun. You now represent this alliance, and this new peace between the kingdoms."

The teens, looking confuse as always, opened their mouths to speak, but the Cat disappear and their vision began to go fuzzy. "Not again..." Claude mummbled as they all fell to the floor with headaches.

When Claude woke up, they were in beds in a small room.

And a short and deathly thin woman was over Claude. She had an abnormally large nose, and hunchback-like posture that shorten her height even more. Her short, pure silver hair was pulled back into a tight bun that was low on her head and her watery eyes were covered by small glasses. She wore a floor-length, long-sleeved dark blue dress that looked worn out with a white apron over the lower part of her body and a dark green shawl over her bony shoulders.

"Morning, dears..." Nurse Pris said as the brunette muffled screamed in his head.


	10. Witless Alcohol

**Black Kitten Chara: Chapter ten of **_**"Lucy in Wonderland"**_**! Enjoy and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Claude thought of two things when he woke up in a bedroom where a creepy old woman was standing over him with a strong-smelling drink in her hands. _"What the hell am I doing here? And where the hell are my friends?"_ were racing through his mind as he tried to move around, only to be met by pain in his side.

He must have made a sound because Pris came over to him and said, "Now dear. You must not move or else that wound will get worse."

Claude groaned a little as his hand laid across his stomach. He felt bandages on his right side and he figured out quickly that he didn't have his shirt on. He just thank God that he was still wearing pants or else he would have called the police on a peverted old woman. "What... happened..." He groaned.

Pris smiled as she drank her small green cup. "Well, I was at the storage buildings when I saw you and your friends laying on the ground. Had me nephews with me and we got you back here in time you fix you right up."

"Great. Now, where the hell are my friends?" Claude said in slight anger, now becoming a little annoyed at the old woman.

Pris waved her hand at Claude like he was a child. He moved away from the bed and sat down in a small whicker chair. "Your friends woke up an hour ago. You had the worst wounds when we got back here."

Claude groaned a little as he looked around the room. A small, grey room with one window, one small bed, and a whicker chair in the corner. A small, wooden desk was beside the bed and Claude could see his choker glittering in the late afternoon sunlight. _"Yup, nothing creepy about this place..."_ Claude thought sarcastically.

Claude laid on the bed for a few more minutes before he pushed himself up with his elbows, ignoring the pain in his side. He looked at Pris and said, "Can I go downstairs?"

The old nurse looked unconviced as she said, "But you side-"

"I'm fine. Maybe some food will help me." Claude said with determination.

Pris still had that _I-don't-believe_ look as she got up and smiled at the brunette. "Well lad, I hope that meal will make you feel better. I think I fix your friends some dinner." The old nurse left the room as Claude got out of the bed.

Even though he had a stabbing pain in his side, Claude got out of the bed and saw his clothes hanging off a truck at the end of the bed. As he walked over to grab them, he saw a small mirror and the most horrible sight in front of him.

His right side was wrapped in white bandages with a dark red botch under the wrappings. He winced a little at the sight of yellow bruises that had dark purple spotaround the bandages. He gritted his teeth as he grabbed his white undershirt and light grey button-up.

He quickly placed on his undershirt and button-up without making his bruise worse. Then he grabbed his leather jacket, choker, and boots as he thought about his wound. _"How the hell did I get that bad of a wound? I know it couldn't have been from the real world, unless..."_

The horrible thought of Wonderland came to his mind. _"But there was nothing that harm my side there..."_ Claude shuddered at the thought of what had happen to him as he laced up his second boot and walked towards the door.

As he left the room and walked down the hallway, the Irish boy was both in awe and horror. The house he was in was small and dingy, with clocks hanging on the walls and the strong smell of alcohol filling the air. The paint was peeling off the walls and the lighting was as bad as the ones in the asylum.

He suppressed the thoughts of the Institution because it had he think about Lucy which had him worried. He took in a deep breath as he tried not to breathe through his nose and entered the kitchen/living room.

Pris was sitting down in a velet red couch while his three friends were sitting at a small, broken down table. They had plates filled with steaming food, which made the alcohol smell a little less horrible and made Claude's stomach growl. The boy licked his lips as he saw an empty seat with a plate in front of it.

Claude sat down as he looked at his friends with corcern: Carmen was eating and didn't seem bother by the creepy house; Francine was picking at her food, which Claude knew that meant she was nervous; and Simon was eating away and didn't even notice Claude sitting down.

Claude began eating as he kept one eye at Pris, who was knitting and drinking something in a beer bottle. The brunette still felt his side hurt as he ate the food, which was only some beef stew and mashed potatoes.

As three out of the four teens ate, Francine still looked worried. She hated when she couldn't eat because that meant she had too much on her mind. She pressed her lips together as she thought about Pris only wanting to see Claude after she brought them to her house, which made Francine think on how they even got here.

After a few minutes, Francine had enough. She looked at Pris and asked, "Nurse Witless, I was wondering on how we got here? Last I remember, we fainted at the storage area and I do not recall you there."

The old nurse did not look bother as she kept knitting. "Well, me nephews and I were there and I told them to bring you here. Too bad one fo them thought it was funny to bring that damn knife along and it cut your friend's side."

Claude touched his wound as the old nurse said this. "Wait, one of your nephews had a knife with him and it cut me?"

"He didn't mean to, dear. It was just as he was picking you up, it slashed your side. I made sure he got a good whipping when we got here and I cleaned that wound pretty well. But me nephew knows now to never bring a knife when he is with me again."

Claude raised an eyebrow as he thought brought the wound. He finally concluded that the yellow brusies must have come from Wonderland, but he wasn't too sure but the knife cut being from a knife. But as he swallowed another bite, he looked at the nurse. "So, why were you at the storage area?"

"Just picking up some od records of mine." Pris said as she kept knitting. She looked at the brunette and said, "Now, I have a question; weren't you at the Institution visiting Lucy Snow? I can remember faces once I met someone."

Claude was taken off by the question, but he was lucky that Carmen was there for him. "Yes, we were visiting Lucy. Why do you ask? Because you were her nurse when she was in the emergency room at Saint Mary's the night her family was killed?"

Now, it was Pris' turn to look shock. She laid down her knitting set and her beer bottle as she got up and smooth her dress. She walked towards a set of stairs, making the teens wonder what was going on.

"Well, come on." Pris said in a snappy voice.

The teens got up as Simon shoved down the last bit of his food and Francine took plenty of bites of her meal before they ran after Carmen and Claude, hwo was already walking behind  
Pris.

The old nurse opened the door at the end of the staircase as the teens ran to catch up with her. The old nurse left her house and was now on the roof of her house, which surprised the teens as they exited the house and saw the view.

The entire house had the most perfect view of the city of London; it was high enough to see the top of most buildings, but it was low enough where it wasn't overbearing. There were bird cages filled with white doves and steam pipes laid lifelessly on the roof as the teens had to walk over them to talk to Pris, who was at a bird cage. There was a small bridge that connected the roof next to Pris' roof together.

"So Pris, how was Lucy at Saint Mary's?" Simon asked.

The nurse sighed as she turned around with a dove in her hands as it feed on the bird food she gave it. "That girl was a mess and still is, which is no surprise. Her kin roasted like chestnuts before her eyes, so I cannot blame her that much."

"No duh, you old hag..." Simon mummbled under his breath as the nurse went on.

"Six years in Renwick's so far is a waste of everyone's time. And that blasted Dr. Dales will not do any better as far I as been hearing." Pris said as she placed her dove back in its cage and brought out a new bird. "Still asking her questions about the fire and her memories when she is awake and not mad."

Francine and Carmen sighed in annoyance as the nurse talked away. Claude rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he mummbled, "Maybe more should have been done to help her instead of hurting her."

Pris sighed as she looked at the teens with eyes that looked like they had sincerity in them, but the four teens knew that sincerity was fake. "But don't I deserve consideration? Who found her clothes and a place to stay...?"

"That place is a mental institution!" Francine yelled in shock.

But Pris waved her hand at the girl like she was a child and huffed in annoyance. "But where would she be without me? She would on the street, selling her backside to men who love a mad woman." The bird in her hand struggled and was finally free from the old woman as the nurse got distracted for a second.

Claude uncrossed his arms and began clenching his hands into fists. "So, you are saying that Lucy would be a prostitue or dead without you?"

Pris smiled like Claude was a child that was finally udnerstanding a simple problem. "Why yes! She has had use an odd pound or two, but I know it is worth more than that. Kept her secret now, did I?"

Carmen was this close to tackling the woman, but Claude held her arm and she knew that if anyone was going to scream at the nurse, it was going to be Claude. Even Simon looked angry as he kept his teeth clench so he wouldn't say anything.

Pris locked her bird cages as she threw the doves some food. "I heard her say _'...all died on my account. I couldn't save you!' _I even told her my silence wasn't for sale nor was it cheap."

"Lucy did not cause the fire! If she did, then the police would have done something by now." Francine yelled at the nurse.

But Pris smiled as she went on. "I'm a good sort, really. Not like her nanny, that uppity whore! Or that lawyer fellow, Kaioh, took her journal. I need money too! Warned her that I will tell the Bobbies if she didn't make a donation to my upkeeping with that allowance she gets. She yells at me, and off goes her head! From what I heard, she can't even recall her name on her good days."

At that point, Claude walked up to the old nurse and made her turn around to look at him. He clench his teeth and his fists, trying his best not to cuss her out or punch her. But he kept his cool and let a long breath out as he asked, "Nurse Witless, do you mean to harm Lucy? To keep her in the asylum?"

"I won't say no. But I do have a thirst that I need taken care of..." Pris said as she threw bird food at the piegons on her roof.

Simon rolled his eyes and Claude could have sworn he heard something like them being too young to get alcohol from the blonde boy. Even though Claude calls Simon an idoit, the brunette was surprised at the things that can come out of the blonde's mouth.

Pris kept feeding the birds and ignoring Claude as she smacked her lips together. But as she did, Claude felt a pain behind his head and grabbed his head as his vision began funny; it looked like his eyesight was cracked like a mirror. He turned to see his friends holding their heads and looking at Pris as she stopped feeding.

"I need a drink.." The nurse said, but it wasn't in her voice. It was deep and metallic as she wlaekd over to the edge of the roof and grabbed a bottle. Claude stepped back as his friends stepped a little closer to know what is going on.

As they watch Pris slumped down to grab her bottle, her back began twitching as she kept talking in her metallic voice. "More than my whistle needs whetting..." Her back snapped as red wings grew and she turned around to reveal she was no longer human. A dragon-like, red fac and red hands with thin claws replaced the old nurse's appearance.

The four teens looked shock as they stepped back quickly from the nurse as she got closer. They kept stepping back until their legs hit the egde of the roof. As the now monsterous nurse came closer, the teens pulled back as far as they could.

Too bad that the only way that they got away from the moster nurse is that they ended up falling off the roof when she slashed her claws at them.

**~0~**

The four went through the same blue vortex they went through the first time when entering Wonderland. But as they fell down at amazing speed, they passed through a strange part of the vortex filled with black tar, baby dool heads with no eyes, and steam pipes.

They landed in Wonderland, but this time they fell down with grace as they looked around in the new area they were in. It was a canyon-like pit with huge teapots and plates scattered through the area. But they were apparently at the end of the canyon because behind them, they saw a floating metal platform with gears floating in the air.

Carmen leaned into Claude and whispered sarcastically, "Who do you think the next person we will see?"

Claude smiled as he walked out of the canyon and stood on the platform as his friends followed him. Francine gasped as they looked at the huge, black floating factory that had red-tinted windows with gears floating around it and wires holding it in the air. A huge, curved horn on the platform they were on pointed towards the factory.

"Amazing..." Carmen said with surprise. "Looks like we are going to visit the Hatter..."


	11. The Hatter's Domain

**Black Kitten Chara: This chapter is decidated to my good friend, 99Roosters! Without her, I would have never kept going with this story! So, enjoy and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Claude smiled as he looked at the floating tea factory; it was black, huge, and shaped almost like a castle with red-tinted windows in a dark green sky that had patches of red and purple. Giant gears were floating around it and wires were holding it in the air. Humongous, teapot-shaped building were floating around the castle-like factory. A huge, curved bullhorn on the platform they were on pointed towards the factory.

"Well, this is my kind of place." Claude said with smirk on his face. If there was anything Claude could feel comfortable around, it was anything that had to do with clockwork machinery.

"You mean _our_ kind of place." Carmen said as she smiled at the tea factory. Simon also was smiling as he sat down and crossed his legs. Any student from Hollow Fields, including these four, were geniuses when it came to clockwork machinery, so this place may be the easiest area they come to.

As the three looked at the factory for a moment, they did not realize they were missing someone. Simon was the first to notice as he said, "Where is Francine?"

Before the other two could answer him, a low and loud sound was heard through the sky as the three teens whipped their heads to see Francine blowing into the curved bullhorn on the platform. "Look! I got us a ride!" Francine yelled with joy.

"What?" Her three friends asked as they looked to see a huge, black teapot-shaped cart rolling down one of the lines that lead to the platform. The cart looked old and rickety as it came to a squeaking stop and opened its door with a small set of stairs falling out behind it.

Simon, Carmen, and Claude looked at the cart curiously as Francine skipped down from where she was and smiled at them. She bounced on her heels as she said, "So, this would probably take us to the factory."

"Good job Francine." Claude said as she stepped into the cart. He realized that it was small but big enough for the four of them. The cart had huge windows that were dirty and there was a small plaque saying _Hatter's Industries_ with a tall top hat on it. He looked at his friends and said with a smirk, "All aboard."

The other three teens walked in as the stairs closed in on them and the door slowly creaked to close on them. "That isn't creepy at all..." Simon mumbled sarcastically as the cart jerked and began taking the teens up towards the factory.

Claude looked out through the huge, top-to-floor windows that the cart provided to see huge, floating gears pass them in the sky. He gave out a long whistle as he turned around to only meet a not-so-furry, somewhat-ally of theirs.

"What are you doing here?" Claude asked the Cheshire Cat.

"As always, to help you." The Cat said with his sadtisic grin.

As the Cat spoke in his elegant British accent, Claude rolled his eyes and looked towards the factory that lie ahead of him and his friends. "So, that is the Hatter's Domain? Not much different than what I expected..."

"Apperances, as you know, can be deceiving. Much _has _changed from what it used to be, along with Lucy." The Cheshire Cat said.

"I thought change is constructive and different is good. That is what my mother always told me, anyways." Carmen said as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, proving she still had dobuts about the Cat.

"Different denotes neithers bad or good, but it certainly means '_not the same'_. You must find the Hatter because he more know about _'different'_ then you four will ever know." The Cat said as his grin grew wider while a Dodo passed the cart.

Simon cocked his head to the side as he asked, "But does he know the difference between bad and good?" For that question, Carmen smacked him upside the head and Simon rubbed the head as he glared at the girl.

Before the Cat could answer, small bots with dragonfly-like wings appeared in front of the cart. Francine saw them first as she tapped Carmen's shoulder and pointed towards the dragonfly-like bolts. "Um, should we start worrying?" Francine asked right at the same time a Bolterly hit the glass windows.

The Cat turned around to see more Bolterlys hiut the windows, causing cracks to appear. "Making friends, you four? You are as randomly lethal and just as confused as Lucy is."

Claude narrowed his eyes and bared his wolf-like teeth, a sign that he was getting angrier than he usually does. "We managed without you so far, Cat. Return to whatever hole you call home. We'll call when we need you."

The Cat chuckled a little as the Bolterys casued bigger cracks then before. "Predictably rash. It's not a question of _if_, Claude. It's _when. _Now, hold on and as they say in your world, shut up." Then he disappeared as the last Bolterly made the final blow.

But even as the cart began to shake and fall towards the factory at an alarming speed, Claude still managed to say "Typical" about the Cat as the cart slammed into the factory.

**~0~**

"Ugh, my head..." Was the first words Claude heard when he woke up. He opened his eyes a little to see he was still in Wonderland, but he was happy that he saw all of his friends alright with only some bruises.

The Irish teenage pulled himself up and saw the wreckage of the teapot-shaped cart all around them. He saw Carmen rubbed her head as he asked everyone, "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm fine." All three of them said at the same time while rubbing their heads or arms in pain.

Claude ignored the pain in his side and popped his neck as he began looking around. They were in the factory, maybe the lowest part from what he could remember from the crash. And the only way to get higher was to jump on a platform that was twenty feet above them.

"How the hell are we going to get up there?!" Simon complained as he looked up to see the platform and a huge hole in the wall above them.

Claude looked at the platform with great curiousity that he didn't even notice that his Aphla pedant was glowing with the other pedants of his friends. He only noticed it when Francine said, "Um, guys? Why are our pedants glowing?"

Claude looked down intime to see his clothes being replaced with a new, steampunk-themed outfit; He wore a black leather, long-sleeved shirt with a neck-frill like collar, a Waspie waist cincher with a harness attached and leather, buckled fingerless gloves. His boots were knee-high black botos with buckles and his pants were the same black leather material as his shirt.

He looked up to see Simon wearing the same outfit with the same boots as Claude, and Carmen and Francine had similar outfits but made for girls; A black leather dress that weas thigh-long with short-puffy sleeves. It featured a neck-frill like collar, a Waspie waist cincher with a harness attached and leather, buckled fingerless gloves. They wore the same boots as Claude and Simon. The apron was made of leather and features astronomical signs of Saturn and Mercury. The bow was similar to steam-punk "bat" wings which stick out and were fairly torn and worn. A green light was surrounded by a yellow/bronze metal border with the wings of the bow on either side of it.

"Aw, these outfits are cute..." Francine said in a happy tone while Carmen smiled at her new outfit.

Simon sighed as he looked at Claude with confused eyes and said, "Why do girls get so excited over new clothes?" Claude shrugged his shoulders and watched the girls until they calmed down.

After Carmen and Francine got back to reality, Claude looked back up at the platform with great interest. He looked around for any ladders or railings for them to climb, but nothing seem to be in sight for them. He gritted his teeth as he thought of using the Butterfly Dodge to get up higher, but he didn't know how useful that would be.

"Carmen, use that Butterfly Dodge attack to see if you can get up higher." Claude told the sarcastic girl.

Carmen looked definant as she said, "Fine." She walked near the platform and jumped once, causing the butterflies to appear under her feet as she glide upwards. "Just remember to catch me if I fall." She said to the boys below her.

"Got it." Simon called, but shook his head _No_ to Claude and Francine. But Francine slapped him behind the head the same time Carmen's butterflies fell from her feet, making Claude the only one to catch her.

As Claude put Carmen down and she slapped Simon upside the head, the brunette Irish boy looked around for another way out. Besides the only platform and the huge gap made by the cart, there was no way out.

Except for the hidden staircase near the furances that used by a insane man.

"HELLO, DEAR CHILDREN!" A voice boomed behind the four teens, causing them to jump behind Claude as he turned around and let his mouth hang open at the sight of the tall, long-limbed cyborg in front of him.

The Mad Hatter was green-skinned, with a large nose and ears, tiny eyes, and his teeth bearing an overbite. His body was made out of metal and wood, and he had a rusted cog sticking out of his back. His clothes consisted of a loose straightjacket, black trousers, and dress shoes with spats. He also wore a large black-and-white checkerboard top hat, covered in alchemy symbols, holes, and a few drops of blood. He was carrying a long, black cane with a golden round top shaped as a teapot.

The man gave a chilling smile as he skipped around and sang, "I HAVE GUESTS AND MY LOVELY HOME IS A MESS! WHAT TO DO? WHAT TO DO?"

"I say we run. That is what we can do." Simon whispered as he stood behind Carmen and Claude with Francine behind him.

The Mad Hatter went to the four teens and slammed his cane on the ground, causing a long dinner table with teapots and cup to appear along with five seats. "COME AND SIT DOWN! HAVE A SIP OF TEA!"

Claude cringed at the loud voice of the Hatter, but he looked back at his friends and gave them a look to go along with what the Hatter was saying. Despite the glares and gulps, the four teens walked to the table and sat down as the Hatter sat down with them. The Hatter tapped his cane on the table, causing one teapot grew a pair of spider-like legs and began walking around as it poured tea into cups.

The Hatter gestured at the tea as he said, "HOW MUCH DO YOU LIKE TEA?"

"I'm okay with it." Claude said calmly as his friends nodded their heads to agree. The Hatter clapped his hands in happiness, but Claude could hear the sound of wheels creaking in the Hatter's wrists.

The teens looked at their tea with caution as the Hatter got another cup after the other. Claude gave a sideways look at the tea, which was green and bubbling. "Um, we have to ask you something..."

"A QUESTION YOU SAY? I SHALL ANSWER!" The Hatter yelled as Carmen and Simon covered their ears as Claude cleared his throat.

"Well, we want to know where Lucinda Snow is at? She should be here, and I am assuming that you know where she is." Claude said in a serious tone.

The room began silent as the Hatter sat down his cup and looked at Claude with his bulging eyes. He gave a blood-chilling sneer as he grabbed his cane and bang on the ground twice. Claude instantly grabbed for his sword and kept looking at the Hatter, who had a robotic-like coldness to him now.

In an instant, Claude jumped from his seat as soon as Carmen, Simon, and Francine were strapped to theirs by metal wrists restraints. "Um, Claude?" Carmen said in a worried voice as the Hatter stood up, showing that he still towered over the Irish boy even when he was on the table.

Claude looked at the Hatter before drilling his sword into the Hatter's chest. But the cyborg grabbed the handle and swung Claude around before throwing him on the other side of the room. As the brunette landed in a pile of rubble, the Hatter slammed his cane again on the ground as huge, saws appeared behind the other three teens.

"We are going to die...!" Simon wailed again.

"Are you going to keep saying that?" Carmen yelled at him as the saws began moving.

The Hatter threw back his ehad and laughed as he pointed his cane in Claude's direction. "YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP THIS MADNESS? THE LEADER OF THE TRAIN SHALL HAVE HIS NEW DOLL SOON ENOUGH...!"

But as the Hatter laughed evily, he never noticed the the brunette he threw was coming back at high speed. "I don't think so!" Claude yelled as he kicked the cane into the air and stabbed the Hatter through the stomach.

But, instead of being torn in half like a normal creature would be, the Hatter twicthed for a moment as his head exploded into thousand pieces. The cane blew up as well as the restraints disappeared from his friends, giving them enough time to jump on the table as the saws cut through the chairs.

The three teens watched the saws disappear back into the floor and jumped off the table as Claude looked around for an exit. "We have to move fast. There maybe more madmen like him around here."

"What a pleasant thought..." Carmen said sarcastically.

Claude ignored the snappy comment as he looked aorund and saw something that struck his interest; the staircase that the Hatter had used to sneak up on them was still open, but only a tad bit.

The brunette looked at his friends and gestured towards the hidden staircase as he said, "Hopefully, there will be nobody insane on the other side of that staircase."

**~0~**

It took them a while, but Claude and his friends were able to sqeeuze through the small gap that the staircase had since it was not close all of the way. After Carmen got through, Claude gently pushed the secret door back enough to make it look like it was hidden once again.

"It's dark in here..." Simon pointed out.

"Thanks for the info, Captain Duh." Carmen insulted him. Simon stuck his tounge out at her for the comment as Francine stood between the two in case they decided to fight one another.

Claude sighed as he closed his eyes and touched one of the walls. _"This maybe Lucy's world, but I am going to change this..."_ He thought as bright lights flickered behind his eyelids. Claude opened his eyes to see a row of torches now on the walls.

With light now showing them the way, the teens began walking down the stairs as they stayed close to the right wall. Unlike the rest of the factory, the hidden staircase seem to be made out of bricks instead of steel.

"Where do you think this will take us?" Francine asked Claude as they got to the exit.

Claude gulped as he swung open the door and said, "I think it would lead us straight into trouble."

The teens were now in a huge basement filled with broken down parts, robotic arms carrying junk to a assembly line, and a strange-colored liquid on the floor that Claude was 99% sure was acid. And there, kicking something senselessly, were twins boys in matching white pants, green beanies, and red-and-white striped shirts. Both were large, misshapen, and with pasty white skin with one twin being a lot bigger than the other one.

"God, not them again..." Carmen murmured under her breath as the twins turned to see the four teens at the hidden staircase.

The twins smiled at the teens with horrible grins as the bigger one said, "Look, Dee. Looks like old Whats-her-name from the lunatic's ward actually had some friends."

The four teens slowly went from their weapons as the twins came closer. "Oh, yeah. Scawny, ain't they? But who let them in here? Blame us, for sure." Tweedledee said as they cracked their knuckles.

"Then, let's give them some _strong_ sleeping medicine." Tweedledum said.

"But do they have naything to eat before we give them the medicine?" Tweedledee said as he took off his head and strach his head.

"Doubt it. They don't have any meat on them, but they look like they would make a light snacks." Tweedledum said as he licked his lips with hunger.

As the twins talked about the four teens and what great meals they make, Carmen placed a hand on her hip and growled. "Disgusting, horrible, and smelly oafs." As the words came out of her mouth, the Cheshire Cat appeared beside Claude.

The Cat looked at the brunette and gestures to the twins. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Claude glared at the Cat as he pulled out his sword and growled in the direction of the twins. "Spare the so-called wise words you give out. Do you have any useful advice?"

The Cat smiled as it slowly began to disappear. "Use their size against them." The Cat finally disappeared all of the way as the twins spinned the propellers on their beanies and flew into the air.

The four teens moved back as the twins began flying over them and landed in the spot the teens were perivously at. Francine and Carmen are on the right side of the room with Tweedledum facing them, and Simon and Claude were on the left side of the room with Tweedledee facing them.

As Tweedledee flew towards the boys, Claude slashed at the smaller twin's feet and the two boys rolled under him in time not to be crushed. Simon slammed his Hobby Horse against Tweedledee's face as the smaller twin turned around. Tweedledee was thrown against the wall and the boys ran before the smaller twin could regain his senses.

On the other side of the room, Carmen and Francine faced Tweedledum with weapons in hand. As the bigger twin came at them, Francine pushed her Teapot Cannon to life and shot a blast at the face of Tweedledum, slowing him down considerable. As the twin slowed down his movements, Carmen pulled out her croquet mallet and slamemd it against the stomach of the bigger twin, causing eletric shocks to go through Tweedledum's body.

As the bigger twin suffered eletric shocks through his body, the two girls moved away from him and met the two boys that escaped Tweedledee in the middle of the room. Carmen looked at Claude and said, "What do we do now?"

Claude thought about it as he watch the twins get over the pain from the attacks they suffered through. He watched them fly back up as they slammed back to the ground and created little clones of themselves. "Okay, here's a plan; Carmen and Francine, deal with the clones. Simon and I will take care of the twins."

As the little clones of the twins came clsoer to the teens, the four geniuses spread out; Simon and Claude ran towards a set of metal stairs to get a better view of the twins while Carmen and Francine stayed on ground floor.

"Come on, Carmy!" Francine called to her best friend as they began shooting at the clones. Francine got to ones that were alone and higher in the air, and Carmen dealt with the ones in groups and were closer to the ground.

As the two girls dealt with the clones, the two boys on the stairs looked for the original twins with their weapons in hand; Simon held his playing cards in hand and Claude held the Demon Dice. "Where are you two?" Claude whispered as he looked for the original twins with great caution.

Then he saw them. They were surrounded by enough clones to hide, but Claude could easily see the over-sized red-and-white striped shirts in mid-air. As quick as lightning, Claude threw his Demon Dice as the golden pentagram appeared on the ground and the two die he threw created a huge, tail-whipping Seprent Demon that was breathing fire. The Serpant Demon attacked Tweedledee and the smaller twin fell out of the ground.

Simon smirked as he threw the playing cards at Tweedledum in a scattered pattern, so the bigger twin did not see each card coming at him as he tried to defend himself from an attack from another card. As all 52 cards attacked Tweedledum, one card slashed through the propeller of the bigger twin's beanie and the horrible twin fell to the ground until he landed on top of his brother.

"What now, morons?!" Simon tauted the twins as the girls down below the stairs got the final clone. Simon looked at Claude and jerked his head towards the fallen twins. "I think you can handle them."

Claude smiled as he placed his feet on the rialing of the stairs and held his sword in his hands. Then, he jumped off the railing and slashed through the twins in one clean strike. Instead of blood or ooze, the twins disappeared into a pile of dust. As Simon ran down the stairs, Claude stood up and saw what the twins were attacking.

It was the Hatter, ot at least the Hatter's head, which was covered with ugly purple bruises and the ears were cut off. His stomach laid a few feet from him, and he was yelling at towards the teens. Claude pushed pass the girls and walked towards the Hatter, saying "Hatter, I recall leaving you with her head gone, but not in pieces."

"Nitwit! That was a robot!" The Hatter called in a normal voice as Claude picked up his head. Then the Hatter looked at the brunette with his golden eyes and said, "Oh, it's you..."

Claude looked at the Hatter and said, "You lost your hat and some parts are missing. What happened?"

"Missing indeed! Though, things being the way they are, I barely miss them. As to what is happening, I can barely tell you as Lucy knows more than I do. It's _her_ place, after all! I know my place!" The Hatter said as Claude walked over to the the straightjacket-covered stomach and attached the Hatter's head back on the metal stick know as the Hatter's neck.

"When did you ever know your place? Now, tell me what is going on." Claude said in a serious tone, but his words died off as a whistle of a train and rummbling was heard over the basement's ceiling.

The Hatter yelled as he looked up and yelled, "AHHH! That is going on. And around, and up, and down, in my ears, through my eyes, and up in my nostrils, down my gullet, and winding in my gut!"

Claude listened to the train whistle as he said, "Father loves trains, but I am not a fan myself."

"Well, you won't like this one at all! Nothing like when Mock Turlte was in charge of the Looking Glass Line. This train's a bloody shambles. The Hatter pointed out. "The light is blinding, the smell is hellish, and-"

But Carmen came up to the Hatter and cut him off. "We get the idea. We have to deal iwth a bad train."

A mechanical hand came down from the ceiling as it picked up the Hatter by the gear poking out of his back and pulled him up towards the ceiling. "The world is upside down. Inmates, like the Hare and Dormouse, run the asylum- no offense to Lucy- and worst of all... I'm left tea-less."

Claude crossed his arms and said, "Tragic. If we help, will you help us in return?"

"Cross my heart, if I had one. Find my limbs and throw them into the chute. The machines will do the rest." The Hatetr said as he jerked his in the right direction. "Dormouse has my arms in that direction..." Then he jerked his head towards the left direction. "And the Hare has my legs in that direction. Best way out is through the Clock Face and remember not to pass the flaming door. Be on your way, kind children."

Claude looked at his friends as they began walking towards the Clock Face. "Carmen and I will deal with the Dormouse. Simon, you take Francine and take care of the March Hare."

"Got it." The other three said as they opened the Clock Face and went outside. But before they slipt up, Claude saw something out of the corner of his eye and stopped dead in his tracks. As his friends stopped and turned around to see why Claude stopped, he was no longer there as he already enetred the Memory Door.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Claude opened his eyes to see that he was back in the library with the photography equipment dangerously close to the fire. And there, putting out the fire with some dirt, was an eleven-year-old Lucy with a black cat near her feet.**_

_**He tried to tell her about the horrible fire, but his voice wouldn't work and her ghostly voice cut through his thoughts. "I was the last one in the library of the night of the fire. The log I added to the grate was dead when I went upstairs to bed with Luna. If it wasn't, I may be responsible for my family's deaths!"**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

Claude exited the flaming door as he thought about the memory he just saw. _"Lucy wouldn't have gone to bed without making sure the log was dead. She wouldn't..." _Claude thought over and over again.

But he was snapped out of his thoughts as Carmen shook his shoulders and yelled, "Claude!" The brunette looked up to see that Simon and Francine were already gone. Carmen pointed towards the factory that said Smelling and Regurgitating in neon green lights_._ "We have to get those arms."

**~0~**

The Dormouse's factory looked like something out of an artwork depicting Hell itself; Lava ran across the lower floors as huge buckets spilled more and more of the red liquid down. The voice of the Dormouse, who sounded high-pitched and mad, was heard throughout the factory as Claude and Carmen walked towards where the Dormouse was.

"How do you think we're going to defeat him?" Carmen asked in a somewhat worried tone.

Claude flashed her a cocky smile and said, "It's a mouse. Mad or not, I'm still going to crush it under my foot."

Since entering the factory, the two teens already dealt with some Slithering and Insidious Ruin, but those creatures were dealt very quickly. But Claude still had the gut feeling that more Ruin that was more dangerous was ahead of them.

As the two teens walked up a set of stairs, still unbothered by anything yet, Carmen heard the faintest sound of spider legs. She ignored it at first until the sound grew closer and closer, up until the point where she tapped Claude's shoulder and they both turned around to see their new enemy.

"Shit..." Claude said under his breath as they looked up on one of the chained chamdeliers and saw another new enemy crawling down.

It was golden-bronze, teapot-like creature that ran on three, spider-like legs and had a red, cat-like eye in the center of its metal body. As it came closer to the diamond chandelier, it jumped off and gave a screeching sound at the teens

"What the hell?" Carmen said before the Eyepot slammed its legs on the ground, which caused the ground to shake and the two teens to fall over. "Ow..."

Claude looked up to see the Eyepot runing at them, so he grabbed Carmen's wrist and pulled her out of the way with him as the Eyepot's legs slamemd against the spot Carmen was in. "Damn it, how are we going to beat it?"

As the teens got up, the Eyepot gave whistling noise and shot boiling tea from its spout. "Watch out!" Claude yelled as he pulled Carmen away from the blast. The boiling tea burned through the metal it struck as Claude watched the creature with great interest. "Carmen, shot your Pepper Grinders at it."

"Got it." Carmen pulled out her Pepper Grinders and began shooting at the cretaure, which caused it to become dizzy. As the Eyepot fell on its legs as Claude pulled out his sword and ran towards it, slicing it in half through its eye in one clean sweep.

The two teens caught their breath as they began walking back on their path towards where the Dormouse was, which was obivous by the sound of his voice since it was getting louder and closer. As the teens walked through an archway, they saw that the Dormouse was speaking in a little pressbox.

He was a small, grey mouse wearing a sleeveles, blue plaid vest and a bell on his head. He resembled a wind-up mouse with wheels replacing his back legs and a wind-up key in his back. His left eye, which sould have been red like his right eye, was forced open with clamps that attached to the bell on his head.

The Dormouse looked at the two teens as they walked in as the Hatter's arms poured lava on the ground. "Your prescene in unwelcome. We have a mission to complete and you are an annoyance. Some like it hot, but nobody likes it _this_ hot! HAHAHA!" The Dormouse laughed as he threw his head back.

Claude watched Carmen as she twirled a finger around her temple then she pointed to a small vent on the other side of the room. She smirked at him like she knew he could do it before she turned to the Dormouse and yelled, "Yo, Dormy. Looks like you had a little too much tea..."

The Dormouse growled as he pulled levers and buckets of lava came flying at the two on their cables. Claude smirked as he ran under the buckets unnoticed and Carmen pulled out her Pepper Grinders.

As the buckets began opening their hatchets to burn Carmen, the dark-skinned girl jumped out of the way and skidded on a platform that began moving up. She pointed her Grinders at each bucket as she shot them down one-by-one.

"I have the arms you need... Well, the Hatter needs them. But it doesn't matter! I'm going to crush you!" The Dormouse yelled as he kept the buckets of lava coming towards Carmen.

The curly-haired girl rolled her eyes as she shot another round at another bucket, causing it to fall and caused the lava to rise even higher. Carmen jumped on another moving platform as the Dormouse kept the buckets coming. She gritted her teeth as she watched a streak of brown hair raced towards the vent she pointed to.

As she shot more buckets down and the lava kept getting higher, Carmen could have sworn she felt colder. _"Good job, McGinty."_ She thought as cold air bursted through the vents over the lava and caused everything to freeze over. Carmen smiled as she jumped down on the frozen lava and stuck her tounge at the Dormouse.

The Dormouse yelled as he pressed a button in the pressbox. "A minor hinderance. I'll just move along." As the platform the Dormouse was on moved up, he snarled at Carmen and Claude, who returned to his friend's side by sliding down the frozen lava. "I'll deal with you later."

As the Dormouse escaped, Carmen was only held back by Claude since she wnated to go after the rodent. "Forget about him. We have the arms." Carmen looked to see the Hatter's arms fell into a chute.

Claude let her go as they walked over to the open chute and Carmen said, "Let's hope Francine and Simon are having as much luck as us."

_**[Meanwhile]**_

Simon and Francine had enter the March Hare's factory called Cranking Up and Pressing Down. It was a dark grey factory with Dodos, who were skinned alive and had bolts in their temples, controlling their metal fists that slamemd against the factory's floors by running in hamster wheels. The March Hare sat and watched everything from the comfort of his pressbox as the Hatter's legs ran in the bigger hamster wheel of them all.

But, needless to say, the other two teens were not having as much luck since they were facing a stronger Ruin monster; the Menacing Ruin. It was a huge Ruin with three doll heads on the front and three arms- one large Ruin ar and two smaller doll arms nears it face. Steam pipes clustered together on the right side of its hunched-over back.

"Get away!" Francine yelled as she shot at the Menacing with her Teapot Cannon. But the new Ruin envaded the attack by covering its faces with his doll arms. "Damn it!"

Simon stood behind the monster as he carefully avoided being crushed by the metal fists. As the Menacing got an inch closer to Francine, the blonde boy began running at it and swung his Hobby Horse on its back.

But all it did was made the Menacing Ruin turn around and swipe Simon hard enough that he flew to the wall on the another side. Simon groaned as Francine tried to help him, but she was more worried about the Menacing bringing out fireballs from the steam pipes on its back.

_"Come on, Francine. You're smart enough to know how to fight off creeps like this..." _Francine thought to herself as a million plans raced through her head. She studied the monster carefully before she finally figured out how to defeat it without attacking head-on.

Frnaicne pulled out her umbrella and opened it as the Menacing Ruin threw the fireball at them. But, instead of hitting the two teens, the fireball hit the umbrella like a rubber band and shot back at the Menacing, causing its arms to break off.

Francine's face broke into a huge smile as she grabbed the Hobby Horse from Simon, who was still uncoscious. As the Menacing Ruin tried to regain its senses, Francine ran at it as she smashed the Hobby Horse into the three faces, each one coming off after the other one. When the last face fell, Francine giggled a little as the voice of the March Hare boomed from even a short distance away.

"Your annoying stubbornness will be rewarded with pain! I told to to crease and decease, but my warning goes unheard. So, wihtout regret, you're about to feel like a lobster in a boiling pot!" Match Hare said in a thick Scottish accent.

Francine turned to looked at the tall, brown-fur hare that wore a sleeveless, red plaid vest with a white button-up shirt and a blue bow-tie. He had gears protruding from his back, a metal frame in his mouth to keep it open, and a monocle that attached to the frame. He had bolts in his ears, his whole left arm was replace with a large blade that resembled a spade, and his legs were replace with springs.

"Annoying jerk..." Francine said as he gave Simon his Hobby Horse back once he recovered. They watched the March Hare pull a lever and the Hatter's legs began going faster to keep up with the speed of the hamster wheel.

Francine jerked her head towards a gear near the pressbox and Simon gained an evil smirk on his face. "I'll deal with the gear. You deal with the fists." Francine said as she disappeared in a cluster of red butterflies to move faster and avoid danger.

Simon held his Hobby Horse close as the metal fists began slamming against the ground faster. He clearly saw a gear on the other side of where he stood, and he knew that gear would cause the wheels on this side to go faster until they broke.

The blonde smiled as he closed his eyes and focused on the metal fists. He knew that running through them, even as a cluster of butterflies, would do him no good. _So, let's slow these things down a little."_ Simon thought as the slamming sound began less noticable.

Simon opened his eyes and smirked as he calmly walked under the slow-moving fists. He began whistling as he heard the March Hare yell in anger, which caused him to laugh a little. The Hare looked at the Hatter's legs and yelled, "That's it! Faster, my fine-fellowed friend. Don't stop now!"

Simon rolled his eyes as he came upon the gear switch that Francine had pointed out when they first arrived in here. He placed his Hobby Horse in its holder as he turned the gear to the right like a bathtub faucet and listened to the wheels squeaking faster and faster. He smiled again as he walked back under the slow-motion fists and once he got to the other side, he returned them to normal speed.

He watched one of the Dodos fell to its knees, dead. He felt bad, but he began laughing as the Hare yelled "Don't you dare stop running!"

Simon turned to see Francine, the smallest girl he ever knew, turned a heavy gear switch all by herself as the wheels began to go into overdrive. The fists began shaking the factory as the Hare yelled to the Hatter's legs, which were also in overdrive. "Stop, that's enough now!. Stop yer running, you diw-witted legs!"

Finally, as Simon held on to a gate to keep him steady from all of the shaking, the Hare pressed a button and yelled to the teens. "You think that can stop our plan? Ha, you make me laugh! I'll be going now." Then he escaped through his pressbox.

As a huge chute opened and the Hatter's legs jumped in, Francine whistled over to Simon and the blonde ran over to her since he did not have to worry about slamming fists now. They looked down through the chute before they jumped in after the legs.

**~0~**

It took exactly thirty seconds to get from the March Hare's factory back down to the basment of the main factory. Simon and Francine tummbled out as their friends waited for them near their chute. "Good to see you made it just fine." Carmen said as she helped Francine up.

"Yeah, except for the fact I have a knot on my head." Simon said as Claude helped him up.

The four teens turned around and saw the Hatter still in the air without his arms, legs, or hat. But as the stoic-faced Hatter waited, a pair of mechanical arms brought his arms out first and screwed them back on his shoulders. The Hatter looked at his hands like they were a new toy and checked if they were still working.

Then a pair of mechanical arms brought his legs and screwed them back on his plevis. He kicked them a few times before the last mechanical arm brought of his hat, which was much taller than the robot's hat, and placed it on the Hatter's head before patting in. Then, the mechanical arm that was holding the Hatter up by the gear in his back let go as he jumped on the ground.

"I feel like a new man! - or whatever I am. I feel like an unsprung spring; like an uncorroded gear; like an untarnished bit of metal that sticks in your eye!" The Hatter said with utter happiness as he pulled his black cane with a teapot-shaped top from the rubble.

Claude grimaced at the Hatter as he spoke. "We got all of your parts, Hatter. Now tell us about this damn train. And Cheshire metion somehting about new rules in Wonderland? It that because of the train?"

The Hatter slammed his cane in his hands as the looked at the brunette. "The law is just...Just a whisper away... A way home to wonder...Wonder who...Who knows how to measure rules...With a ruler! Cruel rules..."

As the Hatter said a bunch of nosense, Claude shook his head in anger and frustration. "Idiot, we should have left you in pieces. You promise you will help us find that train and all you are doing is saying a bunch of nosense."

But as the Hatter stopped saying nosense and looked at the teens, the next thing he did was far more surprising.

He slammed his cane on the ground and plate-shaped springs appeared under the surprised teens before they were thrown into the air. The Hatter grabbed on to a metal chain and jumped ahead of them, causing a huge hole in the glass ceilings as they passed through it and into the sky.

Francine and Carmen held their dresses down as the four teens used their butterflies to create a safety net under them as they fall slowly form the sky. The Hatter landed on one of the floating platforms and looked at the teens as he pointed towards a factory called Assemblage and Destruction in neon pink letters.

"Come on, now. I'll open the door." The Hatter said as he jumped on each platform ahead of the teens.

Claude saw that their butterflies under him were bringing him closer to the platform, so he looked at his friends and smirked. He jumped again as the butterflies disappeared then reappeared before he fell. "Come on!"

His other three friends looked confuse before they followed what he was doing, jumping as the butterflies disappeared then reappeared. They slowly but surely got closer to the factory as the Hatter pulled apart the door with his cane. Claude smiled as he stepped on the factory's steps and waited for his friends as they came to the factory.

They walked up the steps as the Hatter pulled the doors open and walked into the factory. The teens ran up as they heard a high-pitched whistle and saw the most disturbing train ever; a long, black train with Gothic buildings on it that had spikes on the roof and red-tinited windows. Black steam and red brimstone blew from the front of the train and as it passed by, black Ruin debris spouted from the Gothic-styled wheels.

"We found the source of the shaking. But what are those two up to anyways?" Claude asked.

Then the five could heard the crackle of the Dormouse. "You'll never stop us, silly children and Hatter. You're too late! The train has already left! HAHAHAHAHA!"

The Hatter growled as he said, "The insolence! The arrogance! The inexorable table manners! They are destroyers of Wonderland! Defilers! Diluters! Derangers! Delightful... " He then went on a spree of rammbling once again.

Carmen looked at Claude and asked, "Did they really create this Infernal Train to destroy all of Wonderland?"

"What does that matter? They deserve to die!" The Hatter said before a crane came behind him and picked him up. "Argh! Put me down this instant! I ought to..."

"Enough talk! Battle time!" The March Hare said as the Hatter was pulled away and the ground began to shake.

The four teens stood there ground as a huge black mecha, the size of the Empire State Building at most, came from the lower levels with a heat-up drill on the right hand and a metal fist on the left hand. As Claude looked at the mecha with shock, his friends hid behind him and Simon whispered, "We're right behind you, Claude. Literally."

Then the voices of the Dormouse and March Hare, deep inside the mecha, came to Claude's ears and the brunette remembered how angry he was about ten seconds ago when he figured out that they made a train to destory Lucy's mind.

"Abandon false hope! Forget the past! The damage is done!" The Dormouse yelled.

"Let the madness begin! Resume the folly!" The March Hare yelled.

As the four teens looked at the mecha with shocked or scared eyes, the Hatter freed himself from the crane and grabbed a huge teapot from the ceiling. Claude pulled out his sword, hoping to have some kind of defense, but the Hatter threw the teapot and it slammed itself against the head of the mecha.

"Haha.." Simon said as the mecha jerked and its arms began to fall off. The Dormouse and March Hare were heard screaming before they were shot out of the mecha, having their internal organs ripped out. The Hatter jumped from the ceiling and watched the mecha fall as Claude felt the factory shake.

"Hatter..." Claude said, but the madman cut him off.

"No, no! Me precious domain! And the guests! All I really wnated was another tea party!" The Hatter said as he fell to his knees and grabbed his dead friends.

Francine noticed that the domain was about to collapse on itself as she looked at the Hatter. "Please, you promised to help us Hatter. Where is that train going? What is its purpose? Tell us, now."

The Hatter waved his hand like Francine was a small annoyance and grabbed a tea cup. "There is no time for... whatever you want. It's time for tea!" He pushed the tea cup into the March Hare's mouth. "Drink, drink, drink! We can still be friends, you lot."

"Hatter, we need help." Carmen pleaded.

The Hatter huffed as he snapped, "Go find the Mock Turtle. He was in charge of the Looking Glass Line, so he must a thing or two before he was fired."

"But, Lucy's mind is in shambles. What if the Mock Turtle is gone?" Simon asked in a worried tone.

The Hatter waved the teens off again like they were small, annoying children. "Ask the ones who help what helps themselves. Whatver that means..." Then, as he tired to force tea down the Hare's limp mouth, the entire factory fell on the Hatter as he covered his dead friends.

Claude grimaced as he saw tea began to reach his waist and his friends' waists. "Great. we're going to drown." As the tea began to cover them head-to-toe, Claude could have sworn that the tea felt cold and tasted like salt water.


	12. Managled Mermaids

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

The freezing waves engulfed Claude and his friends as the brunette struggled to keep a hold of his breath as long as he could manage. The waters bit into his skin like a cold knives and the salty waves burned his nose. He could only hear the splashing of the waves for the longest time before he felt himself being jerked out of the water and laying on the docks, freezing and wet.

Claude coughed many time as he heard a deep, brutish voice saying "Caught us some sea nymphs and drowned sailors."

Another deep, brutish voice yelled "Saints be praised! HE works in mysterious ways. Got any plans for them?"

A high-pitched, shrill voice was heard saying "Yes, we do. Angel and I will take them to the Mangled Mermaids and get the boys to our rooms."

"I'll take the small one and rent a bed for us. John, you get the one with the broken shoes and rent a bed for you and her." The first male said as all four teens got up and coughed madly before Claude gave them a good look; two muscular fisherman and two women in skimpy clothes.

"What do you think you're doing?" Carmen yelled as the four teens got up.

"Doing what is natural, sweetie." The first male said in a naughty tone.

"Not natural to us! Now, get out of the way!" Francine yelled as the four got to their feet and walked away from the four sex-hungry adults.

As they walked away, Claude got a good look to where they were at; they were at the docks, or at least one of them, and he saw a sign calling the docks _Billingsgate_. It was already nighttime and it was raining harder then Claude would have like it to. Boats were tied up to the docks and a tall building was seen up ahead that looked like it would lead away from the adults.

But before they could have gotten any further, the brunette heard Carmen yelling in annoyance. He turned around to see her grabbing her shoes and an angry look on her face. Her shoes had the heels broken, her pearl bracelets were gone, and her pants had a rip down one side from the lower thigh to the hemline.

"Great. Now what do I do?" Carmen asked as she held her shoes under her arms.

Claude looked at the dark-skinned girl then at Simon. The blonde sighed as he looked at Carmen and said, "Get on my back." Carmen looked worried at first, but grabbed on Simon's back as he piggybacked her.

After Carmen got a good grip on Simon's back, the four continued on as they walked through the rain and Claude looked at the ships, boxes, dead fish piled together, nets, barrels, and ropes that littered the docks. They were about to step on the stairs when Francine squealed with happiness and ran past Claude. "SNOWDROP!"

Claude watched the pigtailed girl ran up to a small, white cat and pick it up. The cat rubbed against Francine's cheek as her three friends walked up to her in shock. "That damn cat again..." Simon murmured under his breath.

But Francine ignored him as they all walked into the tall building Claude saw, only to learn it was freezing cold and covered in a thin sheet of ice on the inside as the harsh mist almost froze Claude on the spot. They all sighed as they walked up to the long staircase and climbed it, with Carmen yelling in Simon's ear about how slow he is.

Claude had to hold back laughter at the two as they reached the top of the stairs and walked around, but the only building in sight as a smaller building than the one Claude and his friends currently were at.

They walked down the staircase on the side of the building as they entered a shady alley that had posters littering the brick walls. Claude saw that most of them were for freak shows, some saying rat men or bearded ladies. But he ignored the thought of freak shows as the sound of old-timey music entered his ears and he looked to see the small building he saw when he was on top of the staircase.

It was a two-story black-and-white building which faced the docks, with a courtyard in the back. Over the front door, there was a wooden swing sign bearing the name _The Mangled Mermaid_, and a statue of a corpse-like mermaid.

The four walked towards the building as two men whistled at Carmen and Francine. "Oi, lassies. Got any plans tonight?"

"You should know that we just came form the asylum." Francine said in a calm manner as the two men at the door had looks of pure fear and shock on their faces. Claude was now snickering as they got to the side of the building.

There, Claude looked to see a poster for a show that had a huge, warlus-like man and a thinner man with red hair. Claude read the poster as simon put Carmen down: _The East End's lousy with spectacles and exhibitions, fire-eaters, and freaks. This play is likely to be bloodthristy, flamboyant, and and melodramatic with saucy songs. The audience will be as raucous and rowdy as the performers._

Claude looked at the warlus-like man for a second longer before Francine tapped his shoulder lightly. The brunette turned to where the smaller girl pointed at to see two people arguing in the alley of the building; a woman in the second-story window and a man in the alley.

"Where's me money, you fucking spunk bucket?!" A young woman with long, black hair tied into a bun, cold grey eyes, pale skin, and a tall and curvy body that had huge breasts said to the man below. She wore a lacy fingerless gloves and a peacock feather in her hair from what Claude could tell.

"Get those fat-assed whores out here on the street or I'll burn your place to the ground!" The tall and thin man said. He had shaggy brown hair with a goatee, brown eyes, and pale skin. He wore a black fedora with a long grey coat lined with fur, a button-up white shirt with a purple vest over it, black slacks, and black dress shoes.

"Shut up, ya bastard! You'll never get pass Long Tim!" The woman yelled.

"I'll get what you and your sluts own me! See if I don't, Nan." The man yelled once last time before walking away and pass the teens as the walked towards the open window.

Nan looked at the man as she yelled, "Maybe ya noticed I'm not pissing me drawers at that prospect!" When she stopped yelling, she looked down to see four wet teenagers and one of them with ripped-up pants and broken shoes. "Oh, do you need something?"

Claude gulped as he said, "Yeah. Are you Nan Sharpe?"

"Yes. Why?"

"We want to talk to you about Lucinda Snow. You were her nanny before the fire happened." Claude yelled as everything but the rain became quiet.

After a second, Nan sighed as she jerked her thumb towards the back of the building. "Go pass Long Tim and say you're here to see me." Then she slammed the windows shut as Claude looked at his friends in shock.

But when the four tens walked around the building, Snowdrop jumped from Francine's arms and went ahead of the teens. "SNOWDROP!" Francine yelled as she chased after her cat again, which caused her friends to chase after her with annoyance in their eyes.

As the four teens ran to catch up with Francine, but they instead skidded to a stop so they wouldn't crush their small friend as they saw a gruesome sight; a woman, most likely a worker there, ws crying over a dead man's body. But what sent the chills down Claude's spine the most is the fact the man had a pot belly and greasy black hair; it was their cab driver from earlier that day.

_"Wow, we have only been in London a few hours and so much has happened."_ Claude thought as the teens walked up and saw the woman crying. "What happened?" The brunette asked.

"J-Jack came and s-s-s-stabbed him." The woman wailed as Francine kneel to the ground. The woman looked confuse for a second before Francine touched Tim's eyelids and closed them. The worker had a look of disbelief on her face as Francine said, "There. Now he looks like he's sleeping."

The woman sobbed softly now as she whispered, "Bless you, girl." and let the four through the door.

The inside was huge with tables and a bar in the light of the room, and a curtain on the bottom floor that kept people from seeing guests being entertained by the whores. A marble fireplace kept the freezing chill in Claude away as the crowded downstairs made him feel a little safe. A long, wooden staircase led to the upperstair rooms, which all looked the same to Claude except one door was wide open.

Carmen rolled her eyes as they passed a whore, but Claude looked at her with serious eyes and said, "It's better than being in the rain."

The four continued on their way as a fight broke out, but they ignored it as they climbed the staircase and saw Nan waiting for them at the open room. In the light of the building and without a window cutting off the rest of her body, Claude could have sworn he heard Carmen shudder with disgust at the woman's outfit.

Nan wore a _very_ short, red plaid mini-skirt witrh fishnet stockings, thigh-high black boots with seven-ince heels, a cropped black t-shirt that showed her stomach, and tons of makeup on her small face. "Nice to see you're here." Nan pointed at Carmen and said, "I have you some clothes."

Carmen shivered as she walked up to Nan, thinking she would get some skimpy and trashy clothes. But instead, she got a pair of black skinny jeans with silver bracelets and a pair of knee-high, bash riding boots. Carmen looked them at shock as Nan said, "You think I only had trashy clothes?"

Carmen pursed her lips and shook her head as she went into the room with the door closing behind her so she could get change. Nan looked at Claude and asked, "What do you need anyways? About Lucy?"

"Nan, we need help to find her. We know that she isn't in the best state of mind, but she has gone missing and we need to know-" Claude was cut off as Nan waved her hand at him like he was a child, which annoyed him to no end.

"About the fire? Same questions Lucy wants to know." Nan said in a despressed tone. The door opened to reveal Carmen in her new clothes, but she was more interested in the conversation. "You need to move on. That is what I did."

"We can't move on!" Francine yelled as Nan walked back into her room. The four followed as Nan sat on her bed and looked utterly despressed. The room was small with only one bed, a dresser, and a desk iwth an oil lamp on it. "We have to know where Lucy is. We want to take her back to Nullsville with us."

Nan gave a weak smile as she said, "Well, better that all of that asylum business. Everytime I go, all I hear are the same things; _'My past is dead'_, _'I killed them'_, and _'I should have saved them or died with them' _.Her mind is really in shambles, to tell you the truth."

The prostitute looked outside through her small window. "Kaioh thought it would be wise to bring familiar faces around to help her. After a year or so, he lost interest in her family's money, greedy sod. But still asking bizarre questions to Lucy, who wouldn't answer them."

Nan looked back at the teens as she continued. "I said she had a heavy dose of madness, but honesty is never the best policy is this life. When she wasn't comatose, she gasped with her eyes like pinwheels and she never uttered a sensible word. And like the child she used to be, she still keeps her secrets close."

After Nan was done speaking, the room became quiet as this information snuck into Claude and his friends. Out of the people they have met so far, Nan and Diana seem like the only good people that have been around Lucy in a long time. Claude gripped his loose choker around his neck as he took a deep breath to regain his courage. "That's all?"

Nan shook her head and said, "I also don't trust that Dales fellow, to tell you the truth. He has lurkers around those poor tykes he is supposed to take care of. Like the blameless ants wasps consume, or a spider's feeble prey. Dales says he is helping Lucy, but I have no doubt in my mind he wants her for himself."

That statement made Claude's blod boil as he tried to take in a deep breath again, so Carmen came in and said "On our way here, I was reading that you invested in Lucy's room at Renwick's. What were you-"

"You call that a room? Well, Kaioh payed me for a bit.. A woman alone sometimes does things that she doesn't want to do. Unlike Nurse Pris, I don't hurt people and I am no drunk like her. Hooking is not a bad life.." Nan said as her voice became more despressed.

After Nan was done speaking again, Claude regain his calm composure. He looked at the hooker as he said, "Ms. Sharpe, we need to know-"

"About the damn fire? Listen, you lot, I can't help you anymore than I have already. But after you leave here, go to Kaioh. He has the Inquest Report on the fire and Lucy's journal." Nan said as she smooth at her skirt and shirt.

As the hooker got up from her bed, Claude heard someone come up the stairs. He looked to see that man that was arguing with Nan eariler coming up the stairs with three musuclar brutes behind him, all looking beyong angry. Before Claude could say anything, the man from beofre pushed pass the teenagers and towards Nan.

"Whataya want Jack?" Nan yelled at the man from the alley.

"I. Want. Me. Whores!" Jack yelled as he punched Nan right in the face and watched her go down as she held her bruised eye. He kicked her once as he yelled, "You won't give me what I want, then I'll burn this dump of yours to the ground!"

"HEY!" Jack turned to see Claude staring him down. "How about you leave? She has done nothing to you." The eighteen-year-old boy said.

As Nan cried on the wooden floors, Jack gave Claude a nasty look and walked up to the brunette. "She hurt me feelings."

Claude rolled his eyes at the statment. "Then go and blow your nose in the bathroom. Who cares if _your_ feelings were hurt?" As Claude said this, he never bother to notice that Jack's goons were behind his friends as he faced the cruel man himself.

Jack growled as he knocked the oil lamp on the desk to the ground, sparking a fire against the wooden surface. Hookers from downstairs heard the loud crash and ran up to see Jack and his goons getting closer to the teenagers as the small spark of fire became a huge, roaring blaze that threatened to kill anyone in its path.

Claude was in shock, as well as his friends, as Jack's goons knocked the three teens behind Claude with their fists. All three fell to the ground, knocked out, as Claude turned to see Jack's hand coming at his face. Claude felt the hard punch and he fell to the ground, knocked out as well, as the fire continue to burn through the wooden floor.

But the odd thing that snuck out in Claude's mind before his vision blacked out is that he didn't feel like he was in a burning room. He felt like he was in a frozen landscape instead.


	13. Deluded Depths

The Tundraful was a place in eternal twilight with the sun and moon in the sky together, and the sky painted a dark purple with twinkling stars and auroras in the sky. But the Sun was fozen and looked sadden in the lower part of the sky, and the Moon was smoking a ciagr that created the auroras. Huge, ice glaciers created a pathway that led to an enormous bottle with a wooden ship called _HMS_ _Gryphon_ inside of it. The dark blue waters splashed against the surfaces of the glaicers.

For a moment, everything seem quiet and peaceful. But then, in a split second, four streaks of light came from the sky as four teenagers laid on the icy surface of one of the glaciers, their hot feet making a hissing sound as they laid on the ice.

Claude looked at the Tundraful's eternal twilight state as he pushed some hair from his face as the sharp wind blew it wildly. He looked at the enormous bottle, which was a few miles away from they were at, which their path was floating glaciers in the water.

"Look at this place..." Carmen said in wonder as she looked at the ship inside the bottle. She now wore the black skinny jeans with the knee-high, bash riding boots over them and her silver bracelets on each wrists. "I wonder who is in charge of that ship?"

Claude let his foot hang off the glacier they were on as he said, "Let's go find out." He slid down the slide-like structure the glacier provided as his friends followed behind him.

The teens slip and slide down the glacier like they were children on a playground slide. The end of the slide curved upwards, so the four were thrusted into the air as they came to the end of it and they landed on another glacier, which was softly padded with snow.

Claude wiped some snow of of him and got up as he looked at the huge bottle once again. As he looked at the ship, his eyes wandered around until they laid on frozen animals with their eyes ripped out and their stomach ripped open, showing their entrails; an Owl, a Lory, a Mouse, a Duck, and a Pelican.

"Weren't those the animals that took part in the Dodo's race in the book?" Francine asked.

Claude shrugged his shoulders as he walked on the shaky glacier, praying to God that he would not fall into the cold waters. His friends followed him as they walked slowly and carefully, tyring not to tip over the glacier as it floated. "Just don't run or jump. This thing may go upside down and we'll drown." Claude pointed out.

"Great for the pep talk, Claude." Simon said sarcastically as the four got closer to the enormous bottle and saw the most interesting sight.

There was someone- or something- running on the ship as large sharks with orange/red colored eye that glowed and a cross through each of their eyes. They had fairly large, thin, pointy teeth that were unevenly spaced out. The body of the sharka were made out of wood, and they were shaped to look like the sharks spine and ribcage. The sharks had no innards or organs to take advantage of. There were also two flags on the spine of the sharks which have been torn in half.

These sharks were attacking the bottle as the four teens looked both confused and worried, not knowing how to pass these monsters without getting eaten. But as they watch the glass bottle being attacked, Francine snapped her fingers as she took out her Teapot Cannon.

"Guys, back away." She said as she pushed the button and shot a firey blast of tea at the sharks. But it went overhead, which distracted the sharks long enough for the teens to run pass them and find a huge crack in the side of the bottle where the sharks attacked it.

They began climbing into the bottle through the crack as someone called "Get it!" in a worried, nerdy voice. As they slipped into the enormous bottle, the wooden sharks realized that they had been tricked and swam back to the glass bottle. They slammed against the bottle a second after Francine entered, causing her to tummble into Simon's back.

On the ship was a creature with a turtle's shell covering his entire body with the head, arms, and legs of a cow. He wore a captain's hat and yelled, "You better come aboard or you're doomed. Well, we are already doomed."

"What? There is no hope then?" Claude asked as the teens ran to the ship and climbed on as the crack on the side of the bottle became bigger. A shark stuffed its head through the crack and began to wiggle to try to enter.

Claude looked at the creature and asked, "Are you the Mock Turtle?"

"Yes, but that is not important now." Mock Turtle yelled as he looked horrifed at the sharks entering the bottle. "Confounded creatures! They want my ship!"

"I think you're more to their taste." Claude said as he watched the sharks trying to enter still.

"NEVER! We're almost relatives!" Mock Turtle yelled as he grabbed a bunch of ropes that held the sails together.

"To them, you are more related to soup, Admiral." Claude said with a smirk. Carmen nudged his side as she jerked her head to the sharks breaking through the glass bottle.

Mock Turtle pulled the sails as he said, "I have an idea! We leave this mayhem and go to Carpenter's theater. It's better than gaff. He says that what we don't take seriously can't harm us."

As the creature said this, the sharks gave one final blow and the bottle began to crack as Claude said, "Best dive now, Admiral. Or these sharks will have us for lunch."

Finally, the bottle cracked as the waves took the ship and moved it away from the sharks, which were catching up speed with it anyways. Claude and his friends held on to the sides as the ships went over a waterfall and crashed into the ocean as the sharks stopped to watch the ship fall into the waves.

**~0~**

After much trouble through the rocky cliffs and some leftover sharks still chasing them, the _HMS Gyrphon _crashed on the bottom of the ocean. The four teens were thrown from the wreckage and were halfway knocked out as the Mock Turtle cried.

"Claude... Claude... CLAUDE, WAKE THE HELL UP!" Carmen yelled in Claude's ear as the brunette woke up and looked at Carmen. "About time. You have been asleep for over five minutes and I couldn't wake you once." The Irish boy groaned as he got a good look at Carmen's new outfit.

She wore an aqua blue, strapless corset with a white string in the middle that tied up to a bow and had puffy sleeves. The bottom of the corset if made out of hot pink scales and the top of the corset was shaped as white seashells as they showed the top of her breasts. She wore an aqua blue mini-skirt with the top of it made out of hot pink scales and the skirt ended mid-thigh. The skirt has layers of blue and pink in different shades under it. Her Jupiter amulet was held by a string of seaweed. Carmen's hair was longer and straighter, seeming to flow with the movements of the waves. Her lips are now the same pink as the dress's scales and she no longer had shoes on, leaving her barefooted.

Claude got up as he saw Francine is a silimar dress as Carmen. Instead of light blue and pink, Francine's dress was dark red with black scales and a black and white layers under her skirt. Her makeup was darker with blood red lipstick and her amulet was held by white pearls. Her hair was out of its usual pigtails and was now is the same high ponytail it was in when she was in the Red Kingdom.

"Ow... My body hurts all over. I think we submerge too quickly." Claude said as he saw the outfits him and Simon were in; black slacks with the bottom cut off at the ankles, a black sleeveless vest, and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the first few buttons open to reveal their chests. Their loose chokers were replaced by ropes and they were also barefoot.

The brunette walked up the Mock Turtle, who was crying and said, "My ship is a wreck and so am I."

"Admirals go down with their ships." Claude said to comfort the creature. "Anyway, from what I heard, you were never an admiral to begin with. You were actually station master of the Looking Glass Line."

Mock Turtle looked upset at the mention of the railway. "Hmm, sacked from the railroad without the option. _'Redudant'_, those nitwits said. Never a holiday, loyal as a dog, but they said a new direction was needed. Now I'm shipless, the old railroad is gone, and this new train is a bloody disaster. It doesn't run on time, the engineer is asleep at the wheel." Then his expression became sadden. "What I don't know can't hurt me. Say no more and be on your way."

Claude gave a look of confusion as Mock Turtle rammbled on. After he was done, the brunette was about to continued on but Mock Turtle cut him off. "Change the subject. We must avoid speaking about the thing whose name must not be spoken."

Claude rolled his eyes before saying, "Hearing something useful about this new train would be great for a change."

Mock Turtle scoffed at Claude. "You don't respect the suffering of others. Go ask your questions to Caterpillar."

"I'm really sorry, Admiral. But you need to tell us anything you know about this train. We're trying to help Lucy here..." Claude said in the most charming tone he had, which he only uses for when he is in trouble.

"I'll just say that we just escaped the corruption. Count yourself lucky to be down here." Mock Turtle continued as he pulled something from his shell.

"But we don't want to escape. We want to stop it to save Lucy and Wonderland." Claude said as he tried to convice the creature.

Mock Turtle looked unsure as he said, "Nosense. Speak more nosense and diversion. But the show must go on. Speaking of shows..." He showed Claude what he pulled from his shell; four tickets to a show. "Here are some tickets to Carpenter's show. Use it..."

As Claude took the tickets, he looked at Mock Turtle as he said "But we weren't speaking of shows."

But Mock Turtle was now ignored him as the creature cried, so Claude sighed and looked at his friends before they walked away. Surprisingly, the did not have to swim in the ocean and they could walk like they were on land.

The four continued through the ocean as Claude spotted what looked like a small town ahead of them. He pointed to the town as they continued on, jumping over red jellyfish that had spikes on them which Claude assume was poisonous.

"Come on. I want to get to that town!" Carmen yelled as they jumped on huge, white jellyfish that served as platforms.

"We're coming, but there is no need to rush. We're almost there anyways." Simon pointed out as he jumped on the white jellyfish with Claude and Francine following him. They continued on as they used small, blue jellyfish as trampolines.

When all four of them were of a cliff that would lead them to the town, Claude saw something from the corner of his eye; there, hidden of rocks, was a door with flames behind it. "Guys, wait a minute." He said.

His friends stood in the spot they were at as he walked towards the Memory Door and saw the Omega symbol on the doorknob change into an Alpha symbol. He gulped as he opened the door and entered it, wondering what would be there behind it.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Claude saw the eleven-year-old Lucy sleeping in her bed before her eyes snapped open and her ghostly voice came to his ears, which caused shivers to run down his back as he heard the haunting words.**_

_**"Luna saved my life. I survived because she showed me how to escape, through the window. I didn't leave the lamp in the library and Luna didn't knock it over. Both were upstairs when I went to bed. Luna was in my bedroom with my when the fire started."**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

Claude exited the door with only two things in his head. _"Why am I the only one that can enter these doors? Also, Lucy didn't start the fire..."_ The second thought gave him chills down his back like no other as he wonder how the fire really started that night.

"Oi, Claude! Hurry up and get your bum over here!" Carmen yelled as the brunette saw his friends already at the slide that would take them into the town. Claude gave a low growl from his friends not listening to him as he walked up to where they were at. "Finally. Now, come on."

Carmen jumped down the slide with Francine behind her, both holding their skirts down as they went down. Then Simon jumped after them with Claude right behind him, but the brunette took a second of thinking before he jumped because the last thing he wanted was a broken leg in a dream world.

The teens slid up and down the wooden slide for a long time, taking sharp turns and going through loops as they kept themselves inside the slide. Finally, they were thrown off the slide as they came to the end and thanks to the water slowing down speed slightly, the teens fell gracefully to the ground as they looked at the town.

A sign near the enterance of the town showed that its name was _Barrelbottom_. The town itself was made out of various large barrels, flotsam, and jetsam. Lights hung around the building with a huge statue in the middle of the town that had a plaque saying _The Carpenter._ Lights hung around the buildings and the fish people there wore Neo-Victorian styled clothes.

"Wow, this place is so pretty!" Francine said as she looked at a fish couple. "Can't we just stay here?"

The small girl was pulled by Simon as the four continued on, trying to ignore the fish couples who were talking excitely and running around as Claude heard something about the Carpenter's show every once and while.

Finally, the brunette took at the tickets Mock Turtle gave him and saw some important facts he should have noticed before; the show was called _Totentanz _and the production would be held at the Dreary Lane Theatre, which was only a little farther away from where the teens actually stood at.

Claude placed the tickets back in his pocket as he led his friends through Barrelbottom, ignoring the pleads of Francine to talk to the fish people and the fish people being over-excited for a play that Claude was pretty sure would suck since he hated plays in general.

As they walked down the stairs, they saw a huge, majestic theater that stood on the edge of Barrelbottom's limits. The name _Dreary Lane Theatre _was written in bright yellow letters on a wooden board and the front door was only covered by a thin, purple curtain. Claude took out the tickets again and said, "We're here."

The teens walked towards the theatre and entered it, seeing that there were many hallways and doors. But the theater's main door lead to a huge room that had one, large stage with a backdrop of stars in the sky. Ladders, boxes, ropes, and paint buckets littered the room as the teens walked in there to see a oversized, grayish walrus that had one broken tooth among his two long fangs sleeping on the stage.

As the teens got closer, a young tall man with a lean body came from the side of the stage. He had a square jaw and red hair, which was styled into long spikes that lean over to his left hand side like waves. He had a small goatee on his chin, pierced ears (three earrings in his left ear, and a pencil stuck through his right), and small tattoos on his forearms that resembled fish skeletons. He was missing the lower part of his left leg, which was replaced with a dark peg-leg, and has a few nails stuck in the back of his hands. He was shirtless and didn't wear any shoes, so he wears only overalls and an apron, with black wristbands and a toolbelt. He was wielding a large hammer, which had the symbol of Neptune engraved into the side of the head.

"Ah, some help! Your arrival is filled with fortunate-ality itself." The Carpenter said in a delighted tone.

"Really? We didn't even know...?" Carmen said but was cut off by the man, who even towered over Simon, stopped her by holding his hand up in front of him.

"Never mind. My pregnant show is about to pop! It requires only a medicament of your helpful-osity." The Carpenter said as he kneel down to look at the teens.

"Well, we really don't have experience is theater. But we do need help finding out-" Claude was cut off when the Carpenter jumped off the stage and casued the ground to shake, almost knocking down Francine by the sneer force of jumping.

"We can barter. I have a screw driver, nearly new, or a nice hammer, if you're more interested in..." Finally, Carmen huffed loud enough for Carpenter to stop speaking and look at her angry face.

"There is a train corrupting Wonderland, and we're looking for help to restrain or destory it." Carmen said in a serious tone.

The Carpenter paced as he said, "Most vexatatious, no doubt. We'll address that, ah, monstrosity directly, that's to say, evenually. Now, let's intermediate more important matters. Due to a logisterical foul-up, some of the show's requsites need to be gather."

"Okay. What are they?" Francine asked.

"The munificent script need fetching. The writer's overly _imaginative_ and exploring many different endings. Then, you'll need to assemble the show's tune-deaf music. And finally, gather the stars; the show's tasty... I mean, _tasteful _performers." Carpenter explained. "You should leave now. The essentiality of haste is essential."

As his three friends looked confuse on half of the words and sentences Carpenter had just said, Claude looked around and said, "It seem like you're hardly ready for this show. Why can't you assemble the things yourself?"

"An impesario has arrangements; fish to fry, coals to burn, etcetera. Fetch the things I need, then we'll batter or clatter or matter as the case may be." Carpenter continued as his swumg his hammer around, causing Simon to duck a few times. "The writer is an octopus and lives over that way. Tata!" He pointed to the right as he began walking towards a set of steps on the stage.

The four looked at each other with confusion. Claude rolled his eyes as he looked at his friends and said, "Okay, here is the plan; Simon, go get the script. Carmen, you can go get the music. Francine and I will go get the stars."

Simon groaned at the fact that he had to get the script, but the four teens walked away from the theater as they split up off into different directions.

**~0~**

Simon walked through the sea as he jumped on stone tiki heads to get to the bloody mouth of a dead shark and walked through the bloody mouth, which acted as a doorway to the other side. The first thing that he noticed was the strong smell of alcohol, which reminded him of Pris' house, and he gagged as he saw a red octopus with grey, receding hairline and a black hat near huge alcohol bottles.

"Place smells like a ripe distllery. With a whiff of halitosis and urine." Simon said to the marine animal instead of a simple _Hello._

"IT'S THE SCENT OF UNRECOGNIZED GENIUS! SO, PISS OFF!" The Octopus yelled at Simon as the blonde backed away a little.

But Simon kept a straight face and said, "Carpenter sent me. We need the script."

"Carpenter is a pusillanimous, parsimonious, pettifogging moron!" Octopus yelled as Simon cocked an eyebrow up at the use of words being used.

"Um, excuse me? Just give me the damn script!" Simon said in an annoyed tone.

"Your needs are shite! I need a drink, who cares? I need those responsible for my career in chains; no joy. I need to know what love is; the world is mum. I need a dose of "Hide-and-Seek". Find me and if you're quick about it, they will deal about the script." Octopus said as he floated off with ink trailing behind him.

For a second, Simon stood there in shock as the octopus got a head start. But the blonde realize that the marine cretaure wanted to play a game rather than fight, which surpised Simon since all he has done in Wonderland has fight. It was kind of a refreshing change since the boy was getting tired of everyone wanting to kill him and his friends.

But that didn't mean Simon was happy about chasing a slimy, red octopus. "Come back here!" Simon yelled as he chased the octopus with the Hobby Horse in hand.

The blonde jumped on the white jellyfish as he chased the stream of ink that the octopus left behind. _"Out of all of the damn things, I had to get the octopus!"_ Simon thought as he landed on the next cliff and began searching for the octopus.

He was surrounded by skyscraper wine bottles that were filled with red liquid. Simon knew there had to be over thirty of them, so he rasied his Hobby Horse and began smashing into each bottle as the glass shattered into million pieces. The red liquid spread around Simon, but the blonde moved away from it as his nose began twitching.

But no octopus. Simon sighed as he went around and slammed into each bottle, causing more glass to shatter and red liquid to drift into the ocean. The octopus was still nowhere in sight, and the blonde was this close to rip out his hair.

As he came over to the last bottle, that is when Simon noticed it; slimy legs and black ink on the bottom of the bottle. Simon grinned evily as he slammed the Hobby Horse into the bottle and Octopus jumped up from the red liquid.

"You have me now, but you won't have me again!" Octopus said as he swam away.

Simon's eybrows knit together as he took chase after the creature. But the creature swam to fast for the blonde and he was soon way ahead of Simon for the blonde boy to simply catch him by the tentacle.

The boy had to jump off the cliff and bounced on countless blue jellyfish. The boy jumped from jellyfish to jellyfish as he avoid the red ones, which were dangerously close to Simon's skin.

Finally, Simon reached the other cliff and landed safety as he looked at the next group of huge glass bottles filled with red booze. Simon growled as he slammed each bottle as glass and red liquid was released across the ocean. The blonde was surprise on how easy these skyscraped-sized bottles were so easy to break, but he wasn't too worry as he broke another bottle.

After breaking four or five bottles, Simon took a break as he breath heavily. As he did, he heard something that sent chills down his spine; the sound of a high-pitched train whistle. The blonde shot his head up as he looked around for a Gothic-looking train, but it seem like the whistle was nothing more than his imagination.

After a second, Simon streched his arms as he began brekaing more glass bottles. As he got to the last one and shattered it, the boy heard a grumpy voice say "It's all in the game; a fair cop. You've won, and you're a good sport. And nobody died! Follow me to the library. Unlike some, I don't welsh."

Simon saw Octopus through the red liquid and broken glass go into a small library, which Simon didn't know was there. The boy followed the marine creature into the small room filled with old-timey music as Octopus started to grab something from a typewriter and said, "Carpenter comissioned a song and dance number on morality. Art and good sense be damned. He demands mirth, silliness, and restrained debauchery all around. Warlus will do a hero turn as Death. I'll bring the script to the Theater. You can be on your way."

Simon smiled at Octopus as he felt a sense of pride of getting the script. But as Simon tried to find the exit, Octopus pushed a button and the mouth of a dead shark drew down like a bridge. The boy ran through the shark's mouth as he went to get back to the theater as fast as possible.

_**[MEANWHILE]**_

Carmen walked through the ocean until she came upon a small area filled with glowing jellyfish, colorful starfish, and one very huge fish that was shaped like a glass bottle with blue sclaes on the inside and yellow eyes who had a terrible, high-pitched voice. "~It's all wrong. If I had ears, they be hurting!~" The fish sang in a tune-deaf tone.

Carmen walked up to the fish and said, "I'm not musical talented, but you seem out of tune."

"~It's not my fault. I can't hear the notes. The pipes are obstructed.~" The Music Fish sang as Carmen wrinkled her nose from hearing the fish's horrible voice.

"I can see that. Why not do something about it?" Carmen asked in a highly annoyed voice.

"~And endanger my vocal chords? Will you possibly do it for me?~" The Music Fish asked.

Carmen's eyes twitched as she crossed her arms in annoyance. "Why does everyone have an excuse for doing noting? Reminds me of Hollow Fields in a way." But she uncrossed her arms and looked at the music pipes, and began following it.

As the dark-skinned girl followed the pipes, she noticed that all three of them were going to the same cave that had three wooden, phonograph horns over the top of the opening of the cave. She kept her pace as she walked up a wooden deck into the cave, which was higher up than where she stood at when she talked to the Music Fish.

She walked into the cave and followed a ramp towards a wooden platform. From the platform, she could see three odd sets; all three of them had a cluster of three of the same instruments in their group. One had violins, one had a set of trumpets, and the last one had a set of drums with arms on them.

Carmen looked at awe as pink jellyfish on the wall illuminated the room, and she saw that all of the instruments were at least ten feet below the platform she was on without a ramp or stairs to led her to them. She also noticed that the instrument sets were covered in black tar and eyeless doll heads. "Ruin..." Carmen hissed under her breath as she jumped off the platform and gracefully fell to the ground.

That was a huge mistake as she quickly realized. From the ground, two enemies appeared; a giant crab with a cannon for one hand and a cigar in his another claw. The another enemy was a blue angler fish that was standing on its hind legs and feathers. "Great. Cannon Crabs and Ice Snarks are the last things I need..." Carmen murmured as she grabbed her croquet mallet.

She slammed her croquet mallet at the Cannon Crab as it fell on its back. As she turned, the Ice Snark tried to freeze her but she avoid it by using her Dodge. She slamemd her croquet mallet into the Snark, but it jumped into the ground except for its glowing antenna. The dark-skinned girl slammed the mallet into the antenna as the Snark jumped up and almost caught her dress.

She pulled out her Pepper Grinders and shot at the Snark as it tried to come at her. But she kicked it in its jaw and pulled out the mallet again as the Snark was shocked. It flopped on the ground as blood covered it.

As she turned around, she barely missed a blast from the Cannon Crab. She slammed her croquet mallet at the Crab as it fell back. She slammed it over and over again until the cannon came off and finally, she broke through the shell as blood and green pus almost covered her if she didn't move in time.

"Too easy!" Carmen said in happiness as she walked up to the instruments to find the Ruin was now harden. The dark-skinned girl broke through the now-harden Ruin and the instruments began playing the most awful sounds as they went through the pipes.

The girl clenched her teeth as she listened to the music. She went back to the platform and found a hidden staircase, so she walked up it and out of the cave to see the Music Fish still looking unhappy, which was hard to know because his expression never changed.

"~It's all wrong. I can't seem to find time for the notes.~" Music Fish whined.

"It's not lost, but maybe mislaid. I suppose I can help you carry the tune. Better be light though." Carmen said.

Music Fish nodded its head, with its entire body as well, as the music began playing. Carmen began singing as she tried her best to follow the notes. She was a decent singer, but she remembered not being as good as Lucy was. She moved her hands to keep Music Fish on track on which was a high note or a low note.

She messed up a few times and they had to start over, but Carmen kept her patience. She kept singing until her vocal chrods felt like they were going to break. She felt like strangling the Music Fish because he kept messing up with the instruments. Finally, once they got the music finally decent enough, Carmen sighed as she looked at the Music Fish as he said, "~The audience will be grateful for your efforts.~"

"I doubt it." Carmen said as she walked away from the Music Fish and exited the caven through a bloody fish mouth.

_**[MEANWHILE]**_

As the script was being finished and the music was finally done with, the last task at hand was gathering the stars. Of course, if you were Francine and Claude, the task was now the trickest mission being undertaken as they floated through the ocean and found the room of the Oyster Scarlets.

And this room was covered in Cannon Crabs, Ice Snarks, and one Menacing Ruin. There was also a new type of Ruin that looked like round, jellyfish-like creatures with a eyeless doll head in the middle, two doll arms on top, and two doll arms on the bottom; Drifting Ruin.

The two teens looked at their enemies from behind rocks as they looked up to see floating beds upon their heads. Then, Claude watched Francine as she pressed her index finger to her lips and opened her Teapot Cannon. She exposed herself a little from behind the rocks as she pointed at the Drifting Ruin and began firing away.

One by one, the Teapot Cannon killed the Drifting Ruin in one shot. The other creatures below the floating Ruin, including the Menacing Ruin, were confuse and upset as their fellow monsters were being killed by an unknown force.

After Francine killed the last Drifting Ruin, she looked at Claude and pointed towards the other enemies. "Watch this..." She whispered.

He looked confuse until he saw her jump up from behind the rocks, completely exposing herself. The Menacing Ruin yelled as it grabbed fire from behind its back, but as the fireball came towards the teens, Francine opened her umbrella and the fireball shot back as it broke the arms protecting the Menacing Ruin's faces.

"Now, Claude!" Francine yelled as the brunette shot from behind the rocks and went after the Menacing Ruin. He slashed the giant Ruin as the monster tried to pull out more fire from its back, but it was too late for the Ruin as Claude cut off the last doll head and the moster melted to the ground.

Then the two teens focused on their other enemies as Claude threw the Demon Dice and scared the Ice Snarks, which gave Francine time to cut them open with the tip of the umbrella. All four of the Snarks fell to the ground in pools of blood as the two narrowly missed blasts from the Cannon Crab.

Francine avoid the Crab's attacks as she got out her Teapot Cannon and shot at the Crabs. All three of them fell to their backs as the heavy blasts hit them, and it gave Claude enough time to slash at them to cut off the cannon hands. He was successful, but he had to jump back as the Crabs tried to attack him with their other claws.

But he was saved as Francine shot at the Crabs with one heavy blast from her Teapot Cannon. The blasts were strong enough for the Crabs to fall backwards and for Claude to stab them one last time with his sword, causing blood and green pus to fly everywhere. Claude gagged as some got in his mouth and wiped his tounge with the edge of his shirt.

Francine held back some laughter as she watch the beds slowly come down with oyster shells on them. Both teens cocked their eyebrows until they saw the shells open to reveal that the muscle of the oysters were small, girlish bodies that had curled red ringlets, heavy makeup, fishnet stockings, and black bows in their hair. The shells became back red skirts and their eyes were oyster pearls.

"You just interrupted our dreams." The first Oyster Starlet said.

"Oh, well. Off to the show, I suppose." The second Starlet said.

"But we still need the star! The star!" The thrid Starlet said as the Oyster Starlets started to swim away into a cave.

The two teens looked confuse as they began walking into a small room that had bright pink lights. But as they went through the enterance, Francien stopped cold as she heard the sound of a high-pitched train whistle. But before she could look where that came from, Claude grabbed her shoulder and led her to the Star.

The Star looked like the other Oyster Starlets, but she had blonde curls, a blue bow, and blue back skirt. "Help me. The poster for the show, it's ruin! If I can't out it back together, Carpenter will grind my bones."

Francine and Claude looked at the poster, which said _Totentaz_ with the Oyster Starlets, the Carpenter, and the Octopus on the bottom and the Warlus wearing a skull mask in the middle of the poster. But the odd thing was that it looked like a sliding puzzle rather than a destroyed poster.

"I know how to do these!" Francine said in joy as she began working.

Claude was still confuse as the small girl began shifting blocks around. She stopped and looked on how she was doing, then she would undo what she had done and shift the piece somewhere else. Francine though carefully as she kept the routine of shiftng and replacing blocks as she made sure that the picture was coming to together.

Finally, with the last shift of the final block, Francine completed the poster as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and smiled at the Star. The poster became paper-like and rolled itself up as the Star grabbed it and began swimming away. "We must resume our place for our adoring fans... at the theater."

Claude and Francine watch the Star exit her room with a bloody sharks' mouth, so they followed her through the mouth to finally get answer from the Carpenter.

**~0~**

All four of the teens arrived at a graveyard with a bridge that was a shortcut towards the theater. But before they could even step on the bridge, the Carpenter came riding on the Walrus and they slammed on top of the bridge, causing it to collaspe and the teens have no way to the theater.

"My God, you're not a impesario, you're a killer. A mastermind of a criminal interprise." Claude said in a highly annoyed tone with anger mixed in it.

"This world is not so either/or, Claude." Carpenter said as the brunette was shock that his name was even known by this madmen.

"Well, we have done your bidding." Carmen pointed out.

"You did a few errands, got your hands dirty, big deal. The show distrac-ulates the crowds. A shame you will miss it, but you need to deal with these sailors. It is your time." Carpenter said.

The Walrus perked up as he heard something in the last sentence and said, "Time? Time? The time has come to talk of ships and, and, and vegetables and royalty and, and, and whether pigs have wings... and so on."

But Carpenter grabbed the Warlus' collar and yelled, "Enough of that, Walrus. You start wailing about being too much sand on the beach, and I'll have your blubber for breakfast."

Francine crossed her arms and said, "Shame on your, Carpenter. You made a promise."

"I had no choice. One can't always do what one would like. I would have thought you would have known that by now." Carpenter said before kicking the graveyard's gates close and riding off back to the theater, leaving the teens trapped inside the graveyard.

All four of them were shocked, but the sound of growling made them look at the graves instead of the closed gates. There, floating and laughing evily, was a shadowy ghost with blue fire for eyes. It held bombs in each hand and for a second, it appeared to become a blue-skinned sailor with red hair and a cigar in its mouth. Then it turned back into a shadow as it threw the bombs.

The teens jumped out of the way of the bombs as they exploded on the iron gates. "We're screwed..." Simon moaned.

"At least you didn't say we were going to die." Carmen said sarcastically. She pulled out her Pepper Grinders and shot at the bombs from behind a grave. She was able to get one of the bombs and it exploded, casuing the Drowned Sailor to fall to the ground with a dazed look. The dark-skinned girl had her mouth open in shock as Claude jumped to the chance and attacked the Sailor.

Claude got in a few good slashs at the Sailor before the monster regain its sense and punched Claude straight in the jaw with its sharp nails. The brunette was thrown back until he slammed into a grave. "Ow..." Claude groaned as blood trickled down his chin.

Carmen, Francine, and Simon all were in shock from Claude being knocked out by the sheer force of a ghost's punch, they never noticed a white streak pass them and knock the Sailor back into the ground as a blood-curling scream as heard. They saw the Sailor disappear into a pile of dust as a blue light came from its body and floated away.

"What the hell?" Simon asked as him and the girls ran towards Claude, who had cuts on his face and a bruise on the back of his head from hitting the grave. They helped him up as the creature appeared in front of them, and now they had a perfect view of who helped them.

It was a mermaid. She wore a pure white shell bra, a pearl choker with a pale yellow shell locket, a golden bracelet around her left upper arm, a white pearl braclet aorund each wrist, and two strings of silver pearls lopped around the base of her tail. She wore a golden tiara with a rose on each side and her tail was pure white that seem to change colors like a rainbow. She had long, dark purple hair that ended in ringlets and honey golden eyes with slightly tanned skin.

For a second, everything was quiet before the mermaid gave a happily screamed, "OMG! The saviors have finally come to stop that mean ol' Ruin monster!"

The girls were the only one who looked confuse because Claude was still halfway unconscious and Simon was drooling over the beautiful mermaid. He gave a groofy smile and asked, "So, what's your name?"

The mermaid smiled at the blonde and said, "My name is Princess Nalu. I used to rule over Deluded Depths, but Carpenter trapped me here and that mean ol' Ruin keeps attacking me with those Drowned Sailors, who are big meanies."

"So, you the princess of Deluded Depths. Can you help us?" Francine asked, hoping that it would keep Simon from talking to the mermaid princess any longer. "We have to get to his show right away."

Nalu looked confuse for a moment as she tapped her chin. "Well, I think I can help you leave. What Carpenter doesn't know is that I know a way out, but I don't like that exit and the Carpenter would see me."

Simon smirked, and dropped Claude at the same time, as he put breath mints in his mouth. But before he could say something close to what Francine was thinking, the small girl cut him off as he gave a look of utter disbelief. "Well, show us this exit. Will it get us to the theater quickly?"

"YEAH! But first you have to defeat the Ruin monster and get me out. I have been too afraid to attack it myself, so I stay as outside the grave's fence." Nalu said as she pointed at the biggest grave there that had an iron fence around it. "Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah, of course! We will do anything for a pretty lady like you." Simon said to charm the young mermaid.

Nalu smiled widely as her eyes followed to the ground and saw Claude. She pouted as she swam over to the boy and touched his face, causing a white light to cover his face. Nalu hummed happily as the boy groaned and saw the pretty mermaid, which Nalu quickly asked "Are you okay? Will you be able to kill the Ruin monster?"

"Huh?" Claude asked as he was jerked up by the collar. He gagged as Simon dragged him, with the girls behind them, towards the huge grave as Nalu hid behind some graves and watched from there. The brunette glared at Simon as the blonde pulled him up and pointed towards the grave.

Claude was close to strangling Simon if the ground didn't rummble as black tar bubbled from the dirt. The teens moved back as the ground shook and many doll arms came from the ground as the monster pulled itself up.

It was a massive worm-like Ruin with four stumpy doll legs, many doll heads dotted around its body, four doll arms surrounding a small hole, and steam pipes and wheels on its back. It gave an inhuman growl as it began charging at the teens, which they avoid narrowly. "What the hell is going on here?!" Claude yelled.

Simon stayed quiet as Carmen pulled out her Pepper Grinders and began shooting at the doll heads. Unfortunately, the Colossal Ruin was quick on its stumpy feet and the teens had to move quickly or else they would be captured. Thankfully, it was four against one Ruin monster.

"What do we do now?" Francine yelled as the monster's arms covered the small hole before it shot flaming baby doll heads at them. She tried to use the umbrella but it was almost jerked out of her hands instead of deflecting the bombs. "This thing cannot be defeated from what it looks like."

Claude watched as Carmen blew off the baby doll heads on the body, but the monster kept throwing flaming baby doll heads. He dodged another attack as the Colossal Ruin threw fire into the air and debris fell to the ground, where the teens had another narrow escape from death. The brunette watched his friend destory the last doll head, and he heard the most inhuman scream from the monster so far.

The monster leaned its top half down as a huge, eyeless doll head appeared over the small hole as a nozzle appeared in the small hole with fire blazing out of it. It began chasing after Carmen before Simon pulled her out of the way and Francine shot a blast from the Teapot Cannon at the doll head.

The Ruin went limp as the doll head was expose to an attack, so Claude went after the monster and slashed at the creature as fast as he could. Simon ran towards the monster himself and began attacking with Claude with the Hobby Horse. Both boys were attacking as best as they could as the doll's head cracked.

"Hurry, guys!" Francine yelled from behind a grave.

"Trying here!" Simon yelled back.

Finally, with a final blast from Claude's sword, the doll's head broke completely and the monster became a huge pool of tar. Both boys had to jump back as the pool of tar almost touched them, and the girls giggled a little as Nalu came over with a huge smile on her face. "You did it!" She yelled as she hugged Simon, who had a goofy smile on his face.

Claude smiled at the mermaid princess as he asked, "So, can you help us get to the theater?"

Nalu snapped her fingers as she remembered her promise and dropped Simon, who looked depressed. She swam ahead of the teens as they followed her through a small cave. They only went a few feet before Nalu stopped as she pointed towards the most gruesome scene they could image.

There was a streak of blood on the ground that led to the theater's basement. There, in the basment under dim lights, were piles of dead or dying Fish people that were skinned alive and their eyes gouged out. Hanging on an anchor in a crucifixion-like manner with a saw blade in his head was a Nautilus-Man in a mayor's outfit. The walls and floor was covered in blood, and the mayor was heard moaning softly.

Francine covered her mouth as Nalu looked at the teens. "That will led you back to theater. But please get me out since I have helped you..."

"Of course!" Simon said happily even though he was sick to his stomach by the gruesome scene. He went back to the gate, with Nalu behind him, and brought out the Hobby Horse. He slammed on the gate and much to his surprise, it opened with much force. He was shock and said, "That is all we had to do to leave?!"

But Nalu pay the boy no attention as she hugged him. "THANK YOU! NOW I CAN SEE MY HUSBAND ONCE AGAIN!"

Simon went limp in Nalu's arms as his friends laughed at him. Nalu dropped him and patted his head like he was a dog, then swam out of the graveyard as Simon had a look of utter disbelief on his face. Francine came over to the blonde and dragged him back to the basement as he murmured, "Sh-She...i-is... m-m-married?!"

But none of his friends paid him any attention as they walked through the gruesome basement. Francine gagged a little as Carmen helped her get Simon up, but everyone did their best not to throw up or cry as they walk through the basement and entered the hallway of the theater. The Octopus and Music Fish were in front of the main doors of the theater, both whom got glares from Carmen and Simon.

As the teens pass the writer and music producer, they entered the theater with seats filled with Fish people that were still alive. The teens continued down as they saw the finished stage and the Carpenter came on stage as he said, "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the shooooooooow!"

The teens walked down to the front row as the Carpenter jumped off stage and the Oyster Starlets came on the stage dancing. They danced for a few seconds before the Star came on stage and danced gracefully. Carpenter sat next to the teens like everything he tried to do to them didn't exist.

"Rather bizzare show..." Was all Claude could say.

But the show took a more bizzare, twisted, and gruesome turn as the Walrus, wearing a black skull mask and carrying a scythe, came down on the stage and crushed the Star. "That quite enough of that, I think. Here is the performace you have been waiting for; proves that I'm without prejudice and have a fine sense of humour."

The curtains closed as creepy musice began and the Walrus looked at the Oyster Starlets with hungry eyes. Then he began the creepiest, most distrubing poem ever wrote:

_Sword and Crown are worthless here._

_I invite everyone to dance._

_Laborers, Lawyers, Church, and Gown, All make thair little prance._

_Men and Women, Young and Old, reject my prophet hand._

_I don't implore them, nor ignore them._

_I firmly take my stand._

_This life is full of random death._

_And heaps of greif and shame._

_So few are soothed by "accident",_

_You want someone to blame._

_Fire, Plague, or Strange Disease,_

_Drowned, Murdered, or, if you please,_

_A long fall down the basement stairs._

_None are expected,_

_No one cares._

_I know the steps very well,_

_All must learn my little dance._

_Families may die and loved ones cry, but no one is left to chance._

_I often must work very hard, sweat running down my skin._

_After the dance, I then must rest, and the eating can begin. _

As he finished the last line, he looked at the crowd and swung his scythe. "Time to eat. Death is the ultimate equalizer. All have the right to be eaten." Then he took a bite out of one of the Starlets as the crowd screamed and began running around in fear.

Carpenter was now wearing a tatty black cloak and a white mask that had a hooked nose. "Get in line, creatures! Don't push. All will be served, so to speak."

Claude growled at the Carpenter as he pointed to the stage, where the Walrus was eating awat at the Oyster Starlets. "Why are you doing such an awful act while Wonderland is being destoryed?"

"I'm not the enemy you seek. I tried to hide this bit of Wonderland from the train! Appeasement's are never clean. We all must pay our assigned roles." Carpenter said as his voice got angrier. "So answer this; Are you pawns or knights? Idiots or practiced fools? However this turns out, consider the prospect that Lucy has been misled, Claude. Then ask, by whom?"

As the last word died down, that high-pitched train whistle was heard once again as Claude and his friends looked to see the Infernal Train shook the theater and came closer. "How did that bloody train get here?" Carmen yelled.

"It arrived when you arrived. And it's more horrible than you can ever imagine! The death of a dream!" Carpenter yelled as he stood in front of the teens. He held one hand out and yelled, "You must stop it! Ask Caterpillar to help you!"

But before Claude could even know what happened to the Carpenter and the Walrus, who was still eating, as the Infernal Train came crashing through the theater, he woke up in a black car with Nan in the front seat as him and his friends were being taken away from the buring building formerly known as the Mangled Mermaid.


	14. Mister Kaioh's Report

**Black Kitten Chara: Here is chapter thirteen of this **_**wonder**_**ful story (Haha, just made a joke there). I hope that you all like this chapter and please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do now own American McGee's Alice or Hollow Fields!**

* * *

Claude stood up from his sleep in the back of a 2012 black Porsche Cayman S to see Carmen and Simon thrown on the floor of the backseat while Francine was in the seat with him. Claude rubbed his nose, still sore from the punch he got, as he looked behind to see the Mangled Mermaid in flames. For some reason, the flaming building hauntingly reminded him of Lucy's house the night it burned down.

"You okay back there?" Nan asked.

Claude turned to see that she was talking to him as his senses came back to him in full force. "Oh... What? The blood in my mouth tastes like bile." He tried to ignore the taste in his mouth as he looked outside of the gathering crowd who came to see the burning building. "Where's the brute that hit me?"

"Don't worry. Nasty prat's out cold. Not dead and more's the pity! The Bobbies came by and picked him up when we left, but no dobut that they would have questioned you if we didn't leave in time." Nan said.

"What the bloody hell did he want?" Claude asked as he began kicking Carmen and Simon to wake up.

"What they all want; Money he didn't earn." Nan said as the brunette put two and two together to figure out that Jack was Nan's pimp. The woman in the passenger's seat turned around and looked at him as she asked, "What were you think butting into that mess? You could have been killed!"

"Nan, we need help still. Lucy is missing still and we need to know something that could possibly help us and her." Claude said in his most charming voice, hoping to convice the woman. "We need to know more about the fire than what we saw."

Nan huffed and shook her head. "You four are just like Lucy. All she wants to know is about the fire, too. But you need to move on like I said."

Finally, the three teens that were still asleep woke up and rubbed their eyes. "What's going on?" Simon murmured, but Claude kicked him behind the head as he tried to continue with his conversation with Nan. The two girls and one boy who was upset over being kicked in the head as the conversation continued between Claude and Nan.

"Well, anything _else_ about Lucy from the asylum?" Claude asked.

Nan sighed and turned back around to look at Claude again. "Well, maybe I wasn't completely honest with you before. Yes, she never said a sensible thing, her eyes were wide and dangerous, and she had terrible nightmares. But these days when I went to go see her, she was as fine as she could be. Yes, she had visions a few times or she would faint, but nothing that didn't seem unusual."

"So, that doctor she's see is actually doing a good job?" Carmen asked, earning her a murderous glare from Claude.

"Dr. Dales, that scoundrel. Unfortunately, his treatments are working but he once told me that Lucy is a harder patient than his younger ones were. He runs an orphanage and specializes in erasing bad memories, but all you see from his work is young kids out on the streets for greedy bastards to take them. They are like the defenseless ants that wasps consume, and it disgusted me!" Nan said with ice in her voice as she turned back around.

As she spoke thses words, the car passed an orphanage called _The Wayward Orphanage_, which was a tall and square building with an iron gate in front of it. Claude and his friends saw four small children, one girl and three boys, in nice outfits like they were going to a party. But the outfits looked like they were made for adults and there were three men surrounding the children as they spoke between themselves with greedy looks on their faces.

For a moment everything was quiet before Francine gave a small cough. Nan looked back as the small girl said, "What Dales is doing is wrong. All memories people have are there for a reason, and getting rid of them for the sake of young children who may or may not remember those memories is awful."

The car became quiet again as Claude felt Francine's pain. After being used as a _"successful"_ experiment of the former headmistress, Ms. Weaver, for her god awful plans to extend human life, Francine and Simon had nothing near a normal life for a young mad scientist since their memories had to put in clones of the original bodies. Claude knew their pain since his older sister was used as a test experiment, and she still wasn't near of having her old life back besides having her body and memories back; she still had trouble remembering a few things and she had to use some medications to get through the day.

The car stayed silent for a moment before Carmen broke the ice. "Well, we still have more questions. What about this lawyer of hers? You said that he brought familiar faces around Lucy, but why didn't he bring us?"

"Why didn't you come here earlier?" Nan snapped.

Claude felt this blood pressure rise as he made Carmen shut up and let him speak. "Listen, just because we weren't here everyday for six years didn't mean we didn't care about Lucy. Nobody told us where she was, so we had look for three years for her. Then we had to get through all of this shit of actually seeing her for a year. For the first two years, we had at least finish high school."

"You like what, 16 through 18? How could you finish high school already?" Nan asked.

"We're geniuses, duh." Simon said.

Nan sighed as she finally had nothing else to ask them and looked at them. "Kaioh is a greedy man. All he wanted was the money that Mr. and Mrs. Snow left behind, but Lucy wouldn't agree with him on her good days and he finally gave up. I'm actually taking you to him right now because if you want answers, then at least he can give you some. He wrote the Inquest Report, so he must know something."

The four teens nodded their heads as they passed through stores and buildings that had Chinese influences to them. The car came to a slow stop as Carmen crossed her arms as Claude opened the door. The four got out as Nan stayed in and rolled down her window as some men came by, but Carmen elbowed her way through to see Nan

For a second, the two females looked at each other with tense glares; Carmen, a girl who believed that woman should never degrade themselves for any reason, and Nan, a woman who degrades herself to get through, were tense for a moment before Carmen finally spoke.

"Why do I feel like this Kaioh man will be completely useless?"

Nan broke out into laughter as she said, "Don't I know that!" She pointed to the house in front of the car before Claude dragged Carmen away from the car and the teens began walking towards the house.

The area they were in was heavily influence with Asian decorations, Asians running many of the stores, the smell of Asian cuisine cooking tainting the air, and many Asian languages being thrown around from the residents of the area. It was a colorful area with its handmade dragons, food, and vases in the windows of stores and beautifully-colored flowers outside these stories.

They walked up to the house, which was an old Victorian-styled house painted jade green with an iron gate around it, and Claude pushed the doorbell as a voice came through a small speak next to the doorbell. "Yes? Who is it?" It was a man with a British accent, but Claude could detect some Japanese behind his accent.

Claude spoke into the speaker, "Hello, Mister Kaioh. My name is Claude McGinty and I am a good friend of Lucy Snow, a girl whose family you once worked for. We need to talk."

"Ah, you're here about her. I suppose you better come in. Mind the latch." The voice said as Claude already opened the door.

They walked into a house that was colored the same jade green as the outside, if not darker, with flower designs on the walls. There were large vases that were gold, red, light blue, or jade green with dragons, flowers, or butterflies on them. The teens walked up the stairs to see watercolor drawings of dragons, flowers, trees, and butterflies with Japanese writing in the pictures. Claude saw that the stairs were covered in a dark blue carpenting and there was a set of swords, which Claude knew was a wakizashi and a katan, on the top of the stairs near an office.

Claude looked at his friends and said, "Let me talk to him." They nodded as Claude wlaked into the office to see it was the same as the rest of the house, only a samurai armour next the door and swords on the walls instead of watercolor pictures. There, behind a large oak desk, was a tall and thin man with light Asian skin, thinning black hair, a full moustache, and pitch black eyes behind thick glasses. He wore a pin-striped, black pajamas with a night cap.

But that wasn't what Claude noticed first. There, open on the desk, was a red journal that had gold writing saying _Property of Lucy Snow_ on the front page. "You do have Lucy's journal!"

Kaioh sighed and said, "Forgot your manners, huh? I thought we were going to have a civil conversation about Lucy, not you accusing me of having a silly little book."

"We are going to talk about Lucy." Claude snapped as he held the back of a red velet seat. "Why do you have her journal and what do you know about Lucy's condition?"

Kaioh shook his head at the brunette. "Please. Lucy is filled with the same attitude and accusations, saying I stole her journal when she actually gave it to me for safe keeping. All the mad child wants to talk about is the fire besides accusing me of "stealing" her silly journal. And that is on her good days."

"What about the Inquest Report? You wrote it..." Claude said as he felt a headache pounding behind his head. He touched his temple as his vision began to look like pieces of a crack mirror.

"Well, my report found her family dead by misadventure. She won't accept it though, with her _"need to know the truth"_, _"her killing memories", _and all that rubbish. The alleged truth is the fire started in the library when the cat knocked over the oil lamp. The blaze trapped her parents and sister upstairs. Her sister, Phoebe, never woke up and died in her bed." Kaioh said in a calm manner.

Claude felt his headache get worse and he had to keep himself from syaing that he knows that the cat didn't knock over the lamp, but he knew that Kaioh would send him to the ayslum if he says that he went to Wonderland and saw Lucy's memories for himself. So, he kept quiet as Kaioh looked at him with cold eyes.

"The gulity cat always sents her off. She denies it: _"Make no sense", "It can't be,"_ and so on. And I agree! From the outset, Lucy was my prime choice for the pyromaniac. The girl had a fixation with fire. I once remarked that I thought she might had a larger role in causing the fire. She suffered some kind of psychotic episode." Kaioh said.

Before Claude could strangle Kaioh for saying such rude things about Lucy, everything went black.

**~0~**

Claude felt his head pound as someone shook him. "Claude! Wake up!" The brunette opened his eyes to see Francine shaking him with fear in her eyes.

He grabbed his head and said, "What happened? Did I rip his head off? I wanted too..."

"What? Claude, there is nobody here." Francine said.

Claude looked to see that Kaioh's office was completely empty and the jade green paint chipping off the walls. There was a pile of junk replacing where Kaioh's desk was and something red was splattered on the walls. The windows were broken and boarded up with wood, and the sound of creaking steps and floors were heard as Carmen and Simon came into the office through an empty space where a door is supposed to be.

Claude stood up and looked around as he said, "What is left of my brain will explode." He looked at the empty office and at his friends. "Is it mad to ask for better hallucinations?"

His friends shrugged their shoulders as they walked down the stairs. But before he followed them, he saw a red journal on the floor. On an impluse, Claude grabbed the book and placed it in his jacket's inside pocket as he follwoed his friends down the stairs.

The entire house was now grey and the paint on the walls were chipped with a strange red liquid on the walls. The chairs, desks, and vases were either broken or flipped over like someone was robbing the place. Claude glupped as he opened the doors to see the snow was lightly falling on the ground, which wasn't there before when the teens walked into the house.

They walked outside and saw a small snowglobe on a stool, but the snowglobe was broken and there was a statue of the Mock Turtle in the middle of the snowglobe. "Yup, we're going insane." Simon murmured as they continued walking, seeing that huge musherooms were on fire on the street corners.

As they walked out of the narrow alley of houses, they finally saw the most disturbing sight to come.

They had entered a world that had a red sky filled with Ruin derbis and vortexs, a rocky ground with red dirt, Ruin covering the ground, dying plants and trees, firey craters, and the ground was broken into large chucks so they would look like flaoting islands in the red sky. And there, flying in the sky, was the Infernal Train as its high-pitched whistle was set off and more Ruin was thrown into Wonderland.

The teens were in shock as Francine yelled, "This bloody Ruin is corrupting all of Wonderland!"

As they continued, the Cheshire Cat appeared in front of them. Even though Wonderland was being corrupted, his creepy grin was still plastered on his face. "Seeking refuge from the wicked world? Perhaps things only look like they have gone to Hell."

"You're not that good of a lair and we're not that stupid. But something a little less calamitous would have been welcome." Claude sneered at the Cat. "And you're one to talk even though you were no help in Deluded Depths. Where have you been?"

"This unmitigated disaster is Lucy's doing. And it will get worse." Cheshire Cat said as he ignored Claude's question of where he was at. "Her train keeps a hellish schedule. Get moving! Time waits for nobody. The change in Lucy has begun..." Then he disappeared before Claude could ask anything else.

And before he could scream in frustration, the ground rummbled and three Menacing Ruin came from the ground. The teens turned to see the monsters right when the creatures pulled fire from its back, so they had to move from the attacks before even grabbing their own weapons.

"We're going-" Before Simon could say his famous line, Carmen punched him in the gut and he doubled over as they stood behind a rock. The dark-skinned girl looked behind the rock to see the Menacing Ruin trying to find the teens. Simon looked at the girl besides him and groaned, "Did you really have to punch me in the gut?"

As the Ruin looked for its prey, Claude nudged Francine in the side. The small girl instantly knew what he wanted he do to as she grabbed her umbrella and opened it. She walked away from behind the rock as she yelled, "Hey, uglies!" The Ruin looked at her as they grabbed fireballs at her, but she shot them back as they bounced off her umbrella.

Their arms broke off as Claude went after one Menacing Ruin, Simon went after another Menacing, and Carmen grabbed her croquet mallet and went after the third Menacing Ruin. They smashed the baby doll heads as quickly as they could while the Ruin tried to grabbed more fireballs.

"Hurry, guys!" Francine yelled as she hid behind a rock.

"Trying here!" Simon yelled as he broke off a baby doll head, leaving him one more to break off. Claude and Carmen broke off the final head of their Ruin monsters as Simon got one last shot and killed his Ruin, causing all three of the Ruin monsters to melt to the ground.

Francine let a long sigh out as she walked over to her friends, who looked tried and sweaty. "Damn, too many Ruins here. We need to get out of this place." Claude murmured under his breath as he got his breath back. He straighten up and placed his sword in the holder as he looked around. "But there doesn't look like a safe place for-"

"There's a safe place!" Francine squealed as she cut off Claude.

Her three friends turned to see where she was pointing to. There, floating in the air without a path for them to walk on, was a normal-looking area with a small isle made out of greenry and jade, which was surrounded by smoke. Francine looked at her friends with a goofy smile and said, "All we need to do is find a way over there."

Claude squinted his eyes as the floating island, but knew there was no way to get over there even if he uses some of his preception abilities. He sighed and was almost this close to telling Francine there was no way they could get over there when he heard a voice in his head. _"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, Claude."_ It was an old voice with a heavy British accent.

Claude looked at his friends to see if they heard the voice, but they were busy coming up with lans on how to get over there. _"Who are you?"_ Claude said back, hoping it was his imagination.

_"I am the one who knows all, but all I know right now is that you must get here quickly."_ The voice said.

_"You're the Caterpillar, right? Are you over there, at the island?"_ Claude asked back, not wanting to do anything the voice asked until he knew whom he thought it was.

_"Yes on both questions, Claude. Are you happy now?"_ The Caterpillar said in slight annoyance.

_"Yes. Now, tell me how to get over there."_ Claude thought back.

_"Simple. Just look behind you."_ The Caterpillar said as Claude turned to see a huge, red hookah covered in Ruin behind him. The Ruin was harden, so Claude walked over there and with his sword, broke through the barriar with a single slash and took the pipe of the hookah. _"Now, take a smoke and let the drug affect your mind. A narrow mind is no help, but one that is open gives you a world of opportunies."_

Claude grimaced on using whatever was in the hookah, but he placed the pipe in his mouth and took a huff of smoke into his lungs. The first thing he did was drop the pipe and cough wildly at the taste of the smoke. But what he did know was that a rocky path towards the island was being created as he coughed.

Claude finally got the taste of smoke out of his mouth, vowing never to place a cigarette or cigar in his mouth ever. He looked to see the rocky path being created as the Caterpillar spoke in his head again, _"That vaporous ledge only appears as flimsy as your confidence in me. But it will hold you. Trust me."_

_"Why should I place my trust in something I never met? Want if that single step you were talking about is my last?"_ Claude thought back as he began to feel a litle light-headed.

But he got no answer back as Carmen came over to him and snapped her fingers in front of him. "Oi, Claude! Get that bum of yours moving!" Claude snapped out of his light-headness and stared with shock eyes as the rocky path now streched all of the way towards the island. Carmen pointed towards the path as she said, "It came for nowhere, but it is our only shot."

All Claude could so was nod his head as he followed Carmen towards the path as Simon and Francine were already ahead of them. The path was strudy enough and it didn't seem like it would break as the teens walked across it until they got to the floating island.

Claude looked around as he walked up to a small a mound of jade and greenery, with trickles of water running down the sides to form a pool around the bottom and wisps of smoke coming from a small temple on the top. As he got closer, a voice from inside the mound asked, "You are familair with the saying that smoking stops your growth?"

"Adults assaults children with that saying, usually while they have a cigar stuck in their mouth." Claude said, knowing that voice belong to the Caterpillar.

After he said this, rings of smoke came from the top of the isle as they surrounded Claude and his friends. "I won't ask you to inhale, just let the smoke surround you." The Caterpillar said as the smoke surrounded them and they began to shrink.


	15. Oriental Grove of the East

Oriental Grove was a beautiful place with a light green sky that had Chinese, Japanese, and Korean writing floating instead of clouds. The trickles of water were now rushing waterfalls that were tinted light green as the water became large pools of steaming green tea and into the ocean. The greenry on the isle was now lush forests with colorful flowers and fruits. The bash grains of sand touched the edge of the ocean and covered the mountain along with heavy rocks making the mountain itself. Colorful folding fans flew across the sky and on the very top of the mountain, there was glowing golden temple that had smoke coming from the top of it.

Claude and his friends shrunk until they were the size of ants and they floated down towards the green tea ocean, landing on a bare floating rock big enough for the four of them. The rock they were on had a rope bridge that connect the main island, which had the temple on top of it.

"Wow. This place really reminds me of Japan." Simon said in awe as his otaku side came out. His hair was now spiky and messier, and there was a few scars on his muscular arms. He wore black pants with the hemline rolled a few inches above his ankles, with white shoes and a white belt that is similar to an obi. His feet were wrap in bandages up to his ankles and his hands and arms were also wrapped in bandages up to the elbow. He wore a sleeveless white top; in this case, it is a custom, white, muscle shirt. Another addition was a long black scarf, wrapped around his neck with the majority hanged loosely and the Loki symbol on each end.

"Yeah. But in reminds me more of Feudal China in general." Francine said. Her hair was now tied in two braids which are looped round and pinned on either side of her head, and these braids are held by dark blue ribbons. She wore a sleeveless black top with stitches going down the middle and a black scarf around her neck with the Mercury symbol on each end. She wore a pair of white shorts tied with a black belt, and white bandages on her arms below her shoulders, although some black bandages can be seen near her shoulders too. On her right leg, she had a long plain back stocking, whilst on her left, she had several black bands wound around her leg. She wore black flats with white straps over the top of her feet.

"I wonder if there are any pretty anime girls here?" Simon asked with a hopeful look on his face.

"Simon, be wary of what you say next..." Francine said with a stubborn tone as Simon looked at her with confusion.

Carmen shook her head at her arguing friends. She wore a black and purple shozoku featuring a thick grey trim and butterfly decals on the back and left breast. It consisted of a black sleeveless waistcoat, a fishnet undershirt, knee-high black boots, wrist guards, and thigh guards. She worn her outfit with grey armguards and yellow decorative cord around the hips holding two iris-kunai. Her hair was straighten again to her waist again with a black bandana wrapped aorund her head to pushed back her bangs, showing both of her eyes. "Simon, listen to Francine or she will keep her promise."

Claude smiled at his friends as he stepped on the bridge. He wore a black shozoku with grey sleeves and arm guards, a black headband that pushes back some of his hair, kunai tied to the outer thighs, and a tatty scarf around his neck with an Alpha symbol on each end of the scarf. There were leather grey belts strapped across his chest and abdomen, connected to a shoulder plate on his right shoulder, and a grey chest armour. "Come on guys." He said as they began walking over the bridge.

Francine pulled Simon up before they followed Claude across the bridge and walked on the rope bridge as huge, red koi fish that looked like they were more origami than actually being real fish. They koi fish jumped over the bridge as the teens looked in awe at it as they continued walking.

"This place is amazing." Carmen said in awe as they stepped on the mountain.

All Claude could do was nod his head as they began walking up a set of old, wooden stairs as he could see a small, Ancient Chinese vilage on top of the stairs. He tilted his head to the right to get a better view before Carmen pushed her away on the stairs.

"Oi, what was that for?" Claude asked angrily.

"Just get your tail moving." Carmen said as Claude, who was angry, with Simon and Francine following him as they reached Carmen, who was on top of the stairs already. She had her hands on her hips as she said, "Finally, you three are up here."

Claude stuck his tounge out at her as he looked around the village. It looked so much like an Ancient Chinese village, but the houses were destoryed or set on fire and there were ants made out of orgami stuck to dominos with blood coming out of wounds from a spear in their heads.

"Wow, something bad went down here." Simon said as he poked a dead Orgami Ant with a stick. "I wonder who did this?"

"Well, it can't be any of the Ruin. They would still be stalking around and they would have left a trail of tar somewhere." Claude said as he grabbed the stick from Simon's hand. "And respect the ants, Simon."

The blonde teenager rolled his eyes as they continued on the village, but all they saw were more Origami Ants dead and pinned to rocks or dominos. There were gaps in the ground with streams of green tea running through it, but Claude was more focus on what was ahead than the beauty of nature around them, even if that nature was in someone else's mind.

Francine looked around as she tapped Claude's shoulder. "Hey Claude, why do you think that Caterpillar came here? It's nice and all, but there are bloodied ants and I have a bad feeling that something is after us still."

Claude shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe he is an Asian caterpillar or something like that. What I am wondering about why did Lucy create a place like this? I never heard of a place like Oriental Grove in any of the Wonderland stories."

"Maybe Lucy is an otaku like me..!" Simon said happily as he realized he may not be alone as a Japanese lover, but Claude did not listen to him as his eyes caught something. Simon noticed this as Claude did not make a snappy insult and akse, "Claude, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just..." Claude trailed off as he walked towards a bloodie Orgami Ant that was pinned to a rock with a spear through its stomach and its eyes ripped out. He looked at it closely as he poked with a finger. He shook the blood off his finger as he realized the Orgami Ant was recently killed.

Before he could turn around, he heard a buzzing noise as his friends ran behind him. Claude saw that there was a tall, skinny Wasp with a white Oni mask that had bushy white hair, a yellow Chinese robe, and a katana sword.

"What is that?" Claude said as he reached for his Cheshire Sword, only to find a new sword. It was a 26-inch sword that had a curved, slender, and singled-edged 14-inch blade made out of imperial gold with a squared guard and the handle was wrapped in long, black leather to accommodate two hands.

"A new weapon?" Carmen asked in curiousity as she puleld out her weapons. Now, she had ten black kunais with the blades covered in flames and small, ring holes at the end of the handles. The handles had purple irises wrapped around them, but the flowers did not catch on fire with the flames covering the kunais.

Claude got over his shock as he ran after the Samurai Wasp, but the Japanese monster jumped into the air with its wings and tried to stab Claude, but the brunette moved away. "Guys, I need some help here!" Claude said as he blocked another attack with his sword.

"Got it!" Carmen said as she ran towards the Wasp and began throwing her kunais, which came back to her as they attack the Samurai Wasp. She did one flip and kicked the monster in the chin, throwing it back a few inches.

Francine pulled out her weapon to see it was now a small, black knife attached to one end of a long, metal cord with a bracelet around her wrist, which was hidden under her bandages on her right hand. "Claude, Carmen! Get down!" Her two friends did what they were told as she threw the knife and caught the Samurai Wasp in the chest. Then, with some superhuman strength she gather, she pulled the chain and slammed the Wasp into the mountain as its mask fell off and she got her knife back.

But the Samurai Wasp did not give up as it came full-force towards Francine. But he was caught off guard when Simon attacked him with his new weapon. He had a long metal chain with each end of the chain tipped with a black handle that has a small double-edged and double-pointed scythe blade attached.

Simon was able to block and attack the Samurai Wasp as he lodged a sycthe into its chest and pulled it out with ease. The Wasp fell to the ground, dead, as Simon swung the scythe around and said, "And my older sister made fun of me for not killing a wasp."

Claude rolled his eyes as he heard a small noise, so him and his friends got their weapons back out. But, instead of another Samurai Wasp, it was a clutter of Origami Ants. They were small, paper-made ants with dotted eyes and 3D-shaped hexagon heads. They wore Chiense robes ranging from yellow, orange, and red. There were blue Origami Ants that looked like old Chinese men and the pink Origami Ants that looked like old Chinese women.

Claude raised an eyebrow as the Origami Ants bowed down to them. "It is the warriors that the red-haired vixen has told us about. The brave, the rash, the foolish, and the wise warriors that will save us all!" The first Origami Ant said happily.

"Um, thanks?" Claude said in an unsure tone. "Who is this red-haired vixen?"

"It is our savior! It is the brave, beautiful, insane, and elegant woman known as Lucy! She was just here minutes before you came!" The first Origami Ant said.

"WHAT?!" All four teens said at the same time.

"Yes! Like you, she saved us from a Daimyo Wasp and many of the Samurai Wasps, but that one got away. She ran off to see Caterpiller, who will save us all when he awakens!" The second Origami Ant said.

"The savage, dishonorable Wasps have come and capture the us, kill the kidnapped ones, and let their youth eat the corpses. It is horrible!" The third Origami Any said sadly.

The Ants bowed down to the teens as Claude walked up to them. He tapped one of their shoulders and the Ant looked at him with those sad dotted eyes. "We need to know how to get to Lucy the fastest way possible."

The Origami Ant pointed to a path and said, "Go this way and you shall find her. But be careful as-"

The Ant never finished as the four teens began running up the path while the Origami Ants went back into hiding. Claude led the way as they realized that the path was on a winding hill and there was a closed door on the top of the hill.

Simon got down on his knees and yelled, "WE CAME ALL OF THIS WAY AND WE HAVE TO WLAK UP THIS STUPID HILL!" Carmen rolled her eyes at Simon's over-dramatic screaming. But Francine looked upset that they had such a long way to go and Claude felt like punching something as he realized that they maybe six steps behind Lucy still.

Claude sighed, but he was cut off as a high-pitched yell was heard from the top of the hill. All four teens looked up to see a small figure punching a large, frog-shaped creature on top of the hill. Claude squinted his eyes to see that the frog-shaped cretaure _was_ a green frog, but it had a stand on its back with a gong.

Claude and Carmen pulled Simon up as the teens ran up the hill, but Claude's eyes never left the small figure slamming a rock on the frog's head. A small smile came on his lips as they ran faster and dodged a rock that was thrown by the figure, but Claude just laughed as they finally reach the top.

There, slamming a rock into the frog's side, was the one and only Lucinda Penelope Snow. And boy, has she change in Claude's opinion. In fact, she has change _a lot _as Claude's eyes looked up and down at her, trying his best not to look perverted.

Her body was perfect with size C boobs, a small waist, slender shoulders, a tiny stomach that gentled roll into her hips, and her neck was long but a little thin. Her legs were long and slender, but they were a little thin, and they had petite feet that moved gracefully on the ground. She had long and slender arms that were graceful, and they had dainty hands with manicured nails that were currently beating a frog. She had the features of a queen; high cheekbones, a straight yet small nose, and a strong yet feminine jawline with a small chin. Her face was slim and mature-looking with no imperfections in sight, and her eyelids were a pale pink color, her thin lips were a rose pink color, and she had natural pink cheeks. Her skin was pale, but her flaming orange, slightly wavy hair with M-shaped bangs that passed her chest was a stark contrast to her skin. She had huge, dark blue eyes rimmed with long lashes and full yet arched eyebrows.

"Damn, Lucy is pretty hot..." Simon said in shock before Francine slapped him upside the head. Lucy turned around and Claude got a full-view of her outfit.

She wore a white, Japanese dress with red logo on back, a side-less skirt that had sakura petals designs and red trimming on the edges. She also wore matching white arm-guards and shin-guards, gold wristbands, white pull-on sleeves, white stockings that went to the middle of her thighs, red choker necklace that had a silver Omega amulet, a thin pink belt, white boots with red trimming, and two knives on the tied to back of her belt. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail by a long, thin light pink ribbon that tapered down to her waist. The dress showed off her breasts and thighs, but they were still cover up enough so nothing inappropriate was showing.

Claude's mouth dropped as the beautiful girl walked up to him, with the rock still in her hands, and slammed the rock right into his chest. Claude flew backwards and landed on the ground as Francine and Carmen gasped while Simon stared in shock on the ground.

Claude groaned as he got up and glared at the girl. He pushed the rock off his chest and yelled, "What the hell was that for?"

Lucy crossed her arms and threw her head back as she gave a cruel laugh. She looked at Claude dead in the eyes as he got up and said, "What was that for? What was that for?! You are a bloody moron if you don't understand what hellish torture I have been through!"

For a moment, Claude was spellbound by Lucy's voice; it was an elegant and refine English accent, the total opposite of how she was acting. But unlike her sister's voice, which rang clearly in Claude's head at this point, Lucy's voice was rough and dark to match her personality. But he was snapped out quickly as Lucy got closer to his face.

"What are you doing?" Claude asked angrily.

"What am I doing? Six years in that hellhole, and you have the nerve to ask me what am I doing?! What are you doing now just visiting me and invading my mind? Who are you to ask me what I am doing when you completely fucked up your friendship with me?!" Lucy yelled as loud as she could, almost breaking Claude's ears.

But Claude fought back. "Oh, so I'm to blame for everything? To start off, I couldn't have visit you in six years because I couldn't find what fucking asylum you were in, I had to finish school for my parents to let me go, and I had to make arrangments to come and visit you! So, before you go and start blaming me for your problems, actually let me explain myself!"

Lucy gave another cruel laugh as Claude's blood boiled. He didn't know why, but this girl was driving him insane with anger. As she turned around, he grabbed her wrists and turned her back around. "What is your problem? Why are you acting like this?"

Lucy gave a snicker as she looked Claude dead in the eyes. "Why am I acting like this? I have lived in a hellish asylum for the last six years with only one person protecting me. While she was not around, I had to protect myself by fighting and sometimes forcing myself into madness! I had to learn how to fend for myself and I never got one letter, one phone call, or even a visit from my so-called friends and living family members."

"Oh, so you act like a conceited bitch to protect youself?" Claude asked.

Lucy's mouth dropped open, but before she could say anything, Carmen grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. Lucy looked up and down at Carmen as the dark-skinned girl pointed to Francine and Simon, who were currently picking up a rock that was twice the size of the one Lucy threw at Claude's chest.

Lucy looked at Carmen with a bored expression. "What?"

Carmen let go of Lucy's arm and placed her hands on her hips as she frowned at the redhead beauty. "We just wanted to know if throwing a rock at the frog's gong to wake it up. You obviously seem to have had trouble before we came."

Lucy flipped a strand of hair out of her face and said, "Yes, it will. Once the frog wakes up, he will use his tongue to open the door. I couldn't hit the gong because I'm one person, so Simon and Francine will be able to hit the gong."

Carmen nodded her head as Claude huffed and stood next to the dark-skinned girl as she served to be a barrier between him and Lucy, whom he was angry at for chewing him out. But Carmen left her position as the barrier and began instructing them on how to climb the frog while carrying the rock still. Claude frowned as Lucy glared at him, so he turned his head and avoid her glare.

Lucy chuckled and said, "Do not be such a moody priss. The last thing I need is a prat like you in my arse for the rest of this trip. Good thing this will be the last stop for the four of you."

Claude looked up and stared at the redhead girl. "What do you mean this is our last stop?"

Lucy smirked as she placed her hands on her hips and said, "You honestly believe I brought you hear to help me? I can handle myself without four, nosy teenagers in my mind." But the tone of her voice made it obivous that she was lying.

Claude rolled his eyes as he watched his friend climb up the frog, which was bigger than any house he could think of. Francine and Simon were in an arguement over something as they reached the top, but Carmen kept them on track as she instructed them to throw the rock at the gong this point. "Okay, be careful and let's do this right the first time!" Carmen yelled.

Francine and Simon nodded their heads as they threw the rock, and miraculously, the rock slammed against the gong with a _BANG_ and the frog groaned loudly. Francine and Simon slidded down the side of the frog as the creature woke up and yawned as its long tongue shot out from its mouth and slammed into the doors, which broke open before the frog went back to sleep.

As Simon reached the ground, his mouth dropped and he yelled "All that so the frog can go back to sleep?!" But nobody paid him any attention as Lucy walked through the doors with the other three teens following her. Simon scrambled to catch up, but he ended up slamming to Carmen's back.

"Ow! Simon, what was the for?!" Carmen yelled as she looked to see Simon with a bruised nose.

"I wouldn't have slammed into your back if you weren't standing there." Simon snapped back. "Why are you standing around anyways?"

Carmen pointed towards Claude and Lucy, both who were at a wooden door with flames behind and the name _SNOW_ written on the. Simon craned his neck to see that both teens at the Memory Door were arguing, but not because they both wanted to go in there.

"The hell?! You have been looking into my memories?!" Lucy yelled on the top of her lungs.

Claude gave the girl a hard look, but he was a little unsettled by the hard, blazing look in her eyes. But he didn't back down as he said, "That's not my fault! I just wanted to know what was behind the door and I ended up seeing your memories. Ever since then, I noticed that the doors will open to either you or me."

Lucy rolled her eyes as she grabbed the doorknob. "Whatever." She murmured as she opened the door, but Claude followed her anyways.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Claude opened his eyes to not only see that Lucy wasn't besides him, but he was outside the house. He looked to see a tall, lanky figure creeping towards the house and opening the front door. Claude moved closer to see the mysterious person turning on a light as he grabbed a key shaped as the symbol of Venus from the key shelf from the wall.**_

_**In the next instant, he was inside and near a door that said **_**"Phoebe"**_**.**__**He looked to see Lucy next to him now, but the hard look in her eyes were gone and was replaced with a scared, confused look.**_

_**"Phoebe hated locked rooms. Her room was the furthest from the fire. Smoke could have not killed her. She never locked her door. And besides, she knew another way out- through the window!" Lucy whispered as she watched the mysterious figure walk up to her sister's door.**_

_**Claude blinked and could have sworn he saw a scared Phoebe in his mind, but he ended seeing the mysterious figure walking out of the room a minute later. "Someone must have incapacited or killed Phoebe, locked her door, then took the lamp downstairs and started the fire to cover up their crime!"**_

_**In another instant, the two teens were back outside as Claude saw the mysterious figure holding a lamp, but the figure threw the lamp on the ground as it broke and began to burn. "Their plan..." Lucy whimpered, "was to kill us all!"**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

Instead of walking out of the Memory Door as usual, Claude was thrown out as he fell to the ground and saw Lucy sitting on her knees. Claude got up and looked at her as his friends came over to see that she was just staring at the ground.

"Lucy..." Claude said carefully as he began to reach out for her shoulder.

But she slapped his hand away as she got up and screamed, "Just leave me alone!" Before anyone could say anything, Lucy touched her Omega amulet and she disappeared. They were in shock as she ran away, leaving only footprints.

But isntead of chasing her, Simon cocked an eyebrow and asked, "I thought we could not leave the spot we were in..."

Cheshire Cat appeared with his smile and said, "I lied about that. But the most important thing is to follow her."

For once, before the Cat could disappear, the teens ran after the invisible girl. Claude led the way as he turned the corner, expecting to have a long chase ahead of them as he began thinking of a thousand ways to cuss out the redhead when he found her.

They continued running as Claude saw a huge, red and gold temple that resembled a temple from the Imperial Era of China. The doors were wide open due to something breaking into the temple, and Claude could see Origami Ants roaming around inside the temple. A golden brazier that was size of a bathtub and filled with a bright fire stood in the middle of the temple as the Ants bwoed to the brazier and prayed.

Claude and his friends ran faster as they skidded inside the temple, but the Origami Ants ignored the teens as they went behind the fire and began chattering away in a loud tone. Claude looked confuse as he heard someone yell, "Let me go, you pervy old Ant!"

The brunette rolled his eyes as he went behind the braizer to see Lucy tied to by the Ants as she glared at an older-looking Origami Ant, who wore a Chinese conical hat that was white with black designs. Claude's friends came around the braizer as they both looked shock and confuse, but small smiles played on their lips as Claude let out a chuckle.

Lucy whipped her head to glare as Claude as the Elder Origami Ant looked at the Irish boy. He then looked back to Lucy and said, "Well, it seems like your friends are here to take the challenges."

"What challenges?" The four teens said in shock.

**~0~**

Elder Ant led the teens into a small room as Lucy was still tied up with ropes. But as soon as they got into the room, the other Origami Ants undid the ropes around Lucy and they left the room quickly as they closed the slid-in paper door.

Elder Ant sat down as he grabbed a cup of green tea. "Sit down."

The teens looked unsure as they sat down anyways, but Lucy leaned back on the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. Elder Ant looked at her strangely as she said, "I'm not sitting down until I know why we are here. We are on the shortcut path to the Caterpillar, and you decide to take us hostage?"

Elder Ant waved his thin hand in the air. "True, I should have not taken you off this shortcut. But since you are here, might as well do the Scrolls."

The five teens looked unsure as Elder Ant put down his cup and opened a drawer of a desk. He rummaged through the drawer, but soon pulled out three scrolls that were tightly wrapped up. He sat back down as he undid the red ties on the scrolls and the scrolls rolled out like a new carpet as they lay perfectly still on the floor.

"These are the Oriental Scrolls. As you can see, there are three that will be useful on your adventure to find the Caterpillar." Elder Ant said calmly.

Carmen touched one of the scrolls and said, "So, what do we have to do?"

"Simple. Lucy and someone who was not chosen wil stay here with me. Three of you will go in the scrolls and gained a that you will need." Elder Ant said as he looked at Lucy. "And, Lucy despite understaning many things, will still be hidden from the truth. She must find the truth herself." The last sentence gained an eye roll from Simon.

Lucy sighed as she looked at the Scrolls with a careful eye. She saw that each one had the name written in Japanese, but she could understand what they said; _Destiny_, _Happy Times,_ and _Dark Skies_. She kneel down and tapped one Scroll as she bit her lower lip and thought about who can go into where.

For a moment, everyone was quiet as they watched Lucy. Her navy orbs inspected each Scroll before her delicate hands went to the back of her belt and held on her knives. Then, she pulled out her blades and stabbed the floor on each side of Claude, who was sitting next to Lucy.

Claude jumped a little as he saw the knives coming towards him, but he relaxed and looked at the knives after they were set on each side of him. The knives looked like two, common household kitchen knives. They both had a long silver blade on a short, wooden handle that had decorative red tassels on the end. Its sharp edge curved outward with blood all away along the blade, and both the blade and handle were engraved with floral patterns.

Claude tapped one knife and asked, "These are your weapons?"

"Yes, but they usually don't have the tassels. And they are called the Vorpal Blades." Lucy said in a calm tone as she looked at Claude. "The reason I put them around you is because you need to stay here."

"Wait? Why me?" Claude asked in shock.

"Because you have seen most of my mind already, so let the others have a turn. Francine can go into _Happy Times_, Carmen can go into _Dark Skies,_ and Simon can go into _Destiny."_ Lucy explained.

Claude's mouth was hanging as Simon looked over and saw his friend's despair. So, the blonde smirked and said, "Lucy, I will stay here with you. Claude can take my place in the _Destiny _Scroll. I'm wory that you'll kill Claude before we get back."

Lucy glared at the blonde, but shrugged her shoulders to let him know that she is agreeing with him. Claude let out a sigh as Lucy took her Vorpal Blades back and stuck them on the back of her belt again. Elder Ant nodded his head as he gestured for the three chosen teens to get up, which they did.

Elder Ant tapped the Scrolls with his cane and said, "Just step on the Scrolls and you shall enter. Once you are in, collect a piece of the Caterpillar's Stone to get to him. Get back here and I will assemble the Stone so you can find our savior."

The three teens nodded their heads as they took a step foward. Their feet touched their respective Scroll before they let out a collective breath and they all jumped with their other foot into the Scroll, shrinking until they were inside the Scrolls. Lucy sat down next to Simon as Elder Ant watched their friends go inside the Scrolls, then he looked at them.

"So, are you two dating?"

For that question, one of Lucy's Vorpal Blades _"accidently slipped" _from her hand and pinned to the wall, only inches from the Elder Ant. "Does that answer your question?" Lucy asked as Elder Ant nodded his head in fear.

**~0~**

_**[SCROLL OF HAPPY TIMES]**_

Francine entered a world filled with a clear blue sky without a sun and she was in a field full of pink roses and lush, green grass. The winds were gentle and depsite being in her ninja gear still, she felt at peace she brushed a stray piece of hair from her face. Even without a sun in sight, everything seem so bright and white doves were flying above her.

"Where am I?" Francine asked to herself, knowing that the infinite field did not have a single civilization in sight or anyone in the field besides her.

For a second, everything was quiet still before a small voice said, "You're in the Scroll of Happy Times. When things were better and happier than they are now."

Francine squealed as she jumped up and fell butt-first on the ground. She shot right back up and rubbed her sore butt, saying "Ow, who did that?"

"I did!" A girlish, happy-go-lucky voice said. Francine looked to see a pale-skinned girl with big, dark blue eyes. She had short, flaming red hair that were tied into a pair of small odangos with two dark red ribbons. She wore a light green sundress with lace trimming and a pair of black Mary Janes with white stockings under the shoes. "Hi, my name is Lucy. Who are you?"

Francine rasied her eyebrows at the little girl as she got up. "Um, my name is Francine."

"That's a pretty name. But can I ask you why you are here? Nobody is supposed to now about my secret hiding spot." Younger Lucy said in a cute tone.

Francine smiled as she kneel down to Younger Lucy's level since she was actually taller than someone. "Well, I came here to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"What is the purpose of this scroll?"

When that question was ask, everything became quiet as Younger Lucy's face fell into a frown. She gave Francine a hard, blazing look and stuck out her tongue. Francine was shock as Younger Lucy yelled, "You're a big meanie like everyone else! Leave me alone!"

For a moment, Francine stood there before chasing after Younger Lucy. The little redhead had great speed for her age, so Francine had to sprint to catch up. The two girls ran as fast as they could in the field, which seem endless to Francine but Younger Lucy seem to know where she was going. But what got Francine is that she could hear laughter coming from Younger Lucy as they ran, which confused the older girl as she thought about Younger Lucy being mad at her a moment ago.

Francine kept running and kept her breathing steady as she kept her eyes locked on Younger Lucy's tiny figure. But then, after a few more minutes of running, Francine could see something else far away.

The older girl kept running until she saw Younger Lucy sit down at a huge oak tree, which had glossy green leaves and juicy red apples growing. Younger Lucy sat down as she watched Francine coming running at her and skidding to a stop in front of her. Francine placed her hand son her knees and tried to breath.

"Wow, you're really fun to play with!" Younger Lucy said as she smiled at Francine.

"Thanks..." The older girl said between breathes.

Younger Lucy got up and faced the tree as she placed her tiny hand inside a huge hole. Francine watched her for a moment before the young girl pulled something made out of gold out of the tree.

Francine kneel back down as Younger Lucy handed her a broken piece of gold that looked like it once belong to a cricle. Francine smiled at the piece, but before she could say goobye or thank you, Younger Lucy was gone and so was the world around them.

_**[SCROLL OF DARK SKIES]**_

A flash of bright light blinded Carmen as she closed her lilac orbs for a moment. But the flash quickly went away as Carmen opened her eyes to see that she was not only in her ninja gear still, but she was in a dark room with a single light bulb over her head. She could see that the floor was made out of white tiles, but everything else was in the dark.

Carmen whipped her head from side to side as she tried to find anything to tell her where she was at. But nothing was in sight expect for her under the light bulb."Hello?" The dark-skinned girl called to the empty room, hoping for someone to at least hear her from far away and turn on the lights.

But instead of having someone turning on the lights, she heard a creepy laughter from behind her. The curly-haired girl turned around as she pulled out her kunais, ready to fight in case this was a monster.

Carmen inched closer to the laughter as another light came on, barely shining down on a deformed figure laying on the ground. Carmen raised an eyebrow as she inched closer to the figure as it began laughing again, but Carmen knew it was at least a girl who was laughing. The dark-skinned girl bit her lower lip as she called, "Hey, you! Where are we?"

But the figure broke out into a fit of laughter as Carmen felt chills go down her spine. She gently put up the kunais because she realize that the figure wasn't going to hurt her. Carmen held out a hand as she said in a kinder tone, "Hey, where are we? Do you know?"

The laughing girl got up and Carmen saw that the girl had long, tangled hair that was in a dull orange color. The girl lifted her face, which was covered in some dirt, as a cruel smile cracked on her face. The girl rocked back and forth as Carmen got closer, but the curly-haired girl was afraid to come closer to the laughing girl.

For a moment, Carmen slowly walked up until the girl shot her head up and Carmen almost fell on her own two feet. The laughing girl was staring down Carmen with large, wild-looking dark blue eyes. "L-L...Lucy?" Carmen whispered as she saw that her friend was barefooted and in a straightjacket.

Insane Lucy laughed as she looked at the curly-haired hair. "We're all mad here, we're all mad here, we're all mad here!"

Carmen shuddered as she felt a soft creature brushing up against her leg. She looked down to se ethe Cheshire Cat, but the first thing that came out of her mouth instead of asking where she was at was, "How did you get in here?"

"That's is not the most important thing at hand. Right now, you must find the piece." Cheshire Cat said with his creepy grin.

"What piece? And where am I at?" Carmen asked.

"You're in the Scroll of Dark Skies. This reflects the worst of Lucy's life, which is the present. Just find the piece." Then the Cat disappeared as Insane Lucy laughed louder this time.

"They will never find me! They think they now me, but they will never find me!" Insane Lucy yelled as she fell on the floor laughing.

Carmen cocked an eyebrow as she walked towards the laughing girl, who was now glaring at Carmen. The dark-skinned girl kneel down to Insane Lucy's level and said, "Okay, where is the-" Before she could finish, she saw something golden and glittering in Lucy's straightjacket. "Catperpillar's piece..."

Before the laughing girl could blink, Carmen whipped a hand into the straightjacket and pulled out the broken piece. That must have upset Insane Lucy because she stopped laughing and craned her neck as she glared at Carmen. "YOU BITCH!" The once-laughing girl yelled as she tried to bit Carmen's hand off.

The curly-haired girl moved away as she got back under the single light bulb and everything, including Insane Lucy as she tried to crawl towards Carmen, disappeared.

_**[SCROLL OF DESTINY]**_

Claude opened his eyes to relaize that he was laying face-first in a pile of leaves. He shot his head up and spit some leaves out as he saw that he was in a forest that was in the middle of autumn. He got up as he brushed off the dirt form his ninja gear, which he had no idea why he was still wearing.

_"Jesus, I look like an idoit wearing this..."_ Claude thought bitterly. He wasn't a fan of ninjas and all of that, but he dealt with it because Simon was his best friend and Simon was obsessed with Japan with a fiery passion.

Claude looked around to see that he was on a hidden path; not really used by the amount of leaves piled up, but Claude could tell that a few people have walked here a few times. He kicked a pile of leaves as he wondered what this has to do anything with destiny when he heard a small sound from behind him.

"Mister, why are you just standing there?" Claude gulped at the sound of a little girl's voice as he turned around to see a five-year-old girl playing with a stuffed red horse. But that wasn't what caught him off-guard.

The girl had shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair that was wavy with M-shaped bangs. Her eyes were shaped wide but a little almond-shaped, and they were a green color with flecks of blue and gold around the irises. Around her eyes were long, delicate eyelashes with naturally arched yet bushy eyebrows, which were the same reddish-brown color as her hair. Her skin was fair and it was flawless for a child. She was tall for her age with a petite body, and she had natural pink cheeks and she has rose pink lips with her lower one being slightly fuller than her upper one. She had long legs with petite feet and long arms with dainty hands that had manicured nails. She has perfect facial features with high cheekbones, a straight yet small nose, and a strong yet feminine jawline with a small chin. Her smile, which covered her perfect shiny and square teeth, was a cute dimpled one.

_"She looks so much like me and... No, I am not going to think like that if that is how she treats me." _Claude shook the thought out of his head as he looked at the little girl's black tenchcoat, white sweater, blue jeans, and black boots.

The little girl looked at Claude for another moment before saying, "So, who are you? My name is Emma."

Claude nodded his head and said, "My name is Claude. Um, can I ask you why you are alone in the woods?"

Emma tilted her head to the side and said, "My parents are nearby. They are just walking my little siblings around before we go home. I decided to find some wolves, but Daddy told me that there many not be wolves in these woods."

Claude smiled at Emma as he kneel down to her level. "No, I don't think they live in the woods here. Now, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have you seen something weird? Like a golden piece of a circle?" Claude asked.

Emma's eyes lit up, where the blue in her eyes began to show more. "Yes!" She rummaged around in her jacket as she held her stuffed horse between her legs. She kept looking in her jacket until she pulled out a broken piece of a golden circle.

Claude's eyes lit up as he took the piece and smiled at Emma. She put her stuffed horse back in her arms and said, "Is that what you are talking about?"

"Yes, it is." Claude said. The little girl smiled before everything faded, but she got to say to Claude "Bye-bye, Claude! hope to see you again!"

Claude smiled as everything faded into black. _"I think we'll meet again."_ Claude thought to himself as he let a chuckle out.

**~0~**

Elder Ant, Simon, and Lucy were sitting in the same exact spots they were in as Elder Ant sipped some tea. Lucy looked directly at the Scrolls as she bounced her foot up and down, which annoyed Simon to no end.

Finally, the blonde looked at the redhead as he said, "Can you stop bouncing your-" Before he could finish, the Scrolls began to glow as three teenagers were shot out of them and on to Simon, who was easily thrown to the ground by surprise. "Ow... Never mind, Lucy."

The redhead smirked as Francine, Carmen, and Claude rolled off of Simon as the blonde groaned in pain. Francine pulled him up as he rubbed his bruised face, and the Elder Ant looked at the three returning teens as he sipped tea calmly.

"So, where are the pieces?"

The three teens snapped their head towards the Elder Ant as they rummaged around their pockets. After a mintue or so, they finally pulled out their pieces and handed them to the Elder Ant. The origami-made ant looked at the pieces before getting out his cane and slapping under the three hands as the teens let the pieces fall into the air.

The pices flew into the air before Elder Ant used his cane to catch them in the cane's small, G-shaped crook. He brought them close to him as he sat his cane down and sat the pieces in front of him as he cracked his paper knuckles, then he began assembling the Caterpillar's Stone together.

The teens watched with some curiousity, but they were more focus on Lucy with her arms crossed and her eyes were watching the Elder Ant with the most attention. The Elder Ant moved his paper hands with great speed, even at his semmingly old age, as he assembled the Caterpillar's Stone together.

When he was done, he held the Stone up for the teens to look at. It was a medium-sized, dark golden circluar plate with a design of a large caterpillar with a segmented body and six arms on his upper body. The lower part of his body formed a tail. He had a long face similar to that of a human, with long, thin lips, a small nose and narrow eyes. He wore no clothing, but he had a fez on top of his head. He was smoking a hookah as he glared straight at whoever was looking at the Stone.

Elder Ant bowed his head as he got up and turned around to face the wall behind him. The teens raised their eyebrows in confusion as the Elder Ant tapped the wall with his cane, casuing the wall to rise a little to show a small circluar hole. He held up the Stone as he placed it in the hole and tapped the Stone as it shunk in deeper into the wall.

For a moment, nothing happened. But, in a snap second, the ground shook as the wall raised up and the teens saw outside with gigantic, colorful folding fans being held in mid-air by long, thin sticks in the middle of the framework. The fans slowly spinned around as they made a path upwards towards the top of the mountain.

Out of the four, confuse-looking teens that had their mouths opened, Lucy was not confuse or shock as she got up and sprinted towards the open wall. She jumped form the edge of the room on to one of the folding fans, landing perfectly as she glared at the other teens.

"Come on, you prats! I am not waiting here all day for you to get your worthless bums up!" Lucy yelled as she pulled out her Vorpal Blades.

The other four teens were shook out of their shock as they ran towards the edge of the missing wall and jumped on to the first of the folding fans as Lucy jumped on to the next one. They pulled out their weapons because as Lucy landed, Samurai Wasps and Drifitng Ruin appeared.

"Shit!" Lucy yelled as she jumped into the air and did a flip over a Samurai Wasp, stabbing it in the neck as she cut of its head with the other Vorpal Blade. She landed on the ground as she blocked another Wasps's attacked with her leg before stabbing it in the stomach. "Are you going to fight or what?" Lucy yelled at the other teens.

They nodded their heads as they jumped on to the next folding fans; while Lucy was already on the fifth fan, Simon and Claude jumped to the fourth fan while Carmen and Francine landed on the third fan.

Simon and Claude stood back-to-back as the Drifting Ruin came closer to them. Simon smirked at Claude as he said, "You'll jump and bring them down?"

"That actually sounds like a good plan." Claude smirked back.

As the Drifitng Ruin came closer, Claude jumped and landed on Simon's shoulders as he used them to get higher. He was in the air long enough to throw his sword before landing back on the fan. But the sword acted as a boomerang and began knocking down the Drifting Ruin before coming back to Claude's hands.

As the Drifitng Ruin fell, Simon attacked with his chain scythe by throwing the scythes at the Drifting Ruin. The scythes attached to the Drifting Ruin and stuck them together before Simon took the scythes and slammed them to the ground, destorying the baby doll faces of the Drifting Ruin.

As the Ruin was destoryed as the boys continued on, Carmen and Francine were against the Samurai Wasps Archers, who looked the same as the Samurai Wasps but they wore red robes and held wooden bow with arrows.

Carmen leaned into Francine as the two enemies stood still. "Ideas?"

Francine but her lower lip, but a smile replaced it quickly. She grabbed her knife and threw it at one Archer, grabbing it by the chest as she pulled it down by the chain and let it break through the folding fan as the girls jumped onto the next fan.

The Archers began shooting at the girls, who were jumping from fan to fan to catch up to their friends. Carmen brought out her kunais and began throwing them as the fire covering the blade destoryed the Archers in one hit. Francine was a little less frequent with the attacks, but she was able to destory the perivous fans by throwing the Archers down through them.

The girls finally caught up to their friends as Francine killed the last Archer and destoryed the last folding fan. When the small girl was finish with her fighting, she looked up to see that the world around them had change.

They were on top of the mountain, but the sky was blood red and it seem like a long way down to Francine since she was on the edge. There, sitting in the middle, was a green and golden templer with three layers to make it look like a hookah itself. There were two, black pots on each side of the stone stairway, and from the open enterance, the teens could see a golden simulacrum of the Caterpillar that had real smoke coming from its hookah.

Lucy was the first to go as the rest followed behind her, entering the temple and stopping in front of the simulacrum as she palced her hands on her hips. "I have come all this way to find a simulacrum?"

"If I had the time, I would detail how often you pefer dealing with illusions rather than the real thing. Problems you refuse to deal with don't exist! You deny reality." The Caterpillar's voice said, but it sounded hollow it was from the simulacrum itself.

"That's not right. I know what is real." Lucy snapped back.

"No! And you allow others to tell what isn't real...Now, come inside." Before anyone could say a thing, the floor shook before it broke.

The five teenagers fell through the floor as they gracefully fell to the dirt ground under the temple. They were now in an underground area with a smooth, upward ramp that led to a huge cocoon that incased a green caterpillar with a red fez on his head inside and that had strings attacked to every inch of the walls it was around.

Lucy looked at the cocoon as she began on the ramp, but she looked back at the others and said, "Do not follow me. I need to do this on my own." Instead of arguing, the other four teens nodded their heads as they watched the redhead walk up the ramp.

"Caterpillar, my memories are shattered. From what I heard and seen, there is a wicked train that is ruined nearly all I can recall. And Wonderland will perish completely as I lose my mind. So much has changed. I can't help Wonderland if I can't help myself." Lucy said, her tone becoming slightly scared towards the end.

"Much has changed. But you have it backwards. Save Wonderland and you may save yourself. The Carpenter was on to something when he met your friends. But he was hiding from the real. Your goal is to accept it." Caterpillar explained as the underground cavern began to shake with dirt coming down.

"Then where should I go, what should I do?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"The Queens must be served, Lucy. The Queens, in all of their guises, must always be served. But you must accept the Queen of Hearts as the true queen." Caterpillar said. "The other lands have been destroyed, with their heirs gone and their Queens hidden. Find them and you will be able to speak to the Queen of Hearts."

As Lucy finally got to the edge of the ramp to see the Caterpillar, the creature opened up his yellow eyes as the cavern began to rummble. Lucy's friend held their arms over their heads as they began going up the ramp to get Lucy away, in case the cocoon fell on her.

But Lucy looked at the Caterpillar sand said, "How can the Queen of Hearts stem this growing corruption or assist my search? What does she know that I don't that involves finding the other Queens?"

"She is someone you one knew and loved. Time changes us all." Caterpillar said.

"Not all change is good!" Lucy said over the sound of falling rocks.

"Remember that when you find the Queens and talk to the Queen of Hearts." Caterpillar said before he broke out of his cocoon with red, white, and black wings that size of airplanes. The teens stared in shock before the Caterpillar flew off and a blinding light covered the underground cavern.

**~0~**

Claude groaned as he woke up on a dirt-covered wooden floor. He was back in his normal clothes and in the real world, but he noticed that was in a small room with iron bars replacing where a door should be. A small window let a small amount of light in as Claude forced his eyes open to see something.

It was a small butterfly with a green body and red, white, and black wings. Claude groaned as he got up and held his side, which still hurted. He looked at the butterfly from another moment as he heard the words, _"Time changes us all... Time changes us all..."_

Those words replayed in his head as he saw cops coming towards his cell and stood on either side of the cell. "Oi, you there. That's enough of all that." One cop said to Claude.

"Enough of what?" Claude said in a slightly dangerous tone.

The cop backed off as his partner laughed a little. But Claude wasn't too worry about how in got into a goal or what he had done to get into a goal at the moment. He laid back down on the dirt floor which seem very comfortable to him at the moment.

"I'll find everyone when I get back up." Claude murmured to himself as he went back to sleep, getting the first peaceful sleep he had since coming to London.


	16. Some Peace and Quiet

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to chapter sixteen of this story, and we are about to see how Lucy looks and acts like the real world. Hope you enjoy and please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Claude woke up an hour later with the late morning sun shining down on his face. He struggled to get up as he rubbed his eyes and wiped dirt off himself as he saw the two cops from before were still there. He got up from the ground and walked towards them as he grabbed the iron bars.

"So, how is it going there?" Claude asked the cops to at least be pleasant.

The first cop, the one that laughed from before, looked at him and said, "Well, looks like you're up." The second cop, the one who snapped at Claude for no reason, glared at him.

"Yeah, I am. Now, why the hell am I in jail?" Claude asked.

The cop, a short and muscular man with a full auburn bread, sighed as he said, "We found you and your friends in Kaioh's yard. Pass out it seem like, but you were not drunk or anything. We brought you here for safety measures, but you need to know that Kaioh's property is private. Why were you there?"

Claude took in a deep breath as he said, "Um, we thought he would be home. We didn't know that he was gone or that it was private."

"But why did you faint?"

"We just got to London, visiting a friend. But we have not eaten anything since leaving the plane and we must have passed out from hunger." Claude lied smoothly with a charming smile. Then, he stuck his head out and looked left and right to find his friends. "Um, where are the other three kids that were with me?"

The second cop, who was tall and thin, glared at Claude as he pointed to the cells down the hallway. "Your friends are in the cells next to you. We decided to keep you five here for the night becaise London is very dangerous at night."

Claude cocked one eyebrow up when the cop said five kids. But he shrugged it off before saying, "Um, thanks. Can I be let out now?" He tapped the bars with his knuckles as the short, muscular cop sighed and took a key out. Claude stepped back one step as the cop opened up the cell's door and let the brunette out. "Thanks. Now can my friends be let out?"

The tall, thin cop sighed as he took out a key as well. Claude leaned against the wall as he watched the cops opened the cells. As he waited, he looked around the jail in he in to pass some time.

The jail, or goal as the British called it, was a short building from what Claude could tell because he was on the top floor but he looked out the window to see that he could easily jump and not break something. The window he was looking out of was small and square with thre metal bars in it, and the hallway he was in had dirty wooden floors, dull white walls, and the wooden ceiling looked like it was breaking. The Irish boy looked at the other cells to see passed-out men, men screaming at each other from their cells, and some of the cells had blood-soaked walls.

Claude looked to see the cops opened the cells. Simon, Carmen, and Francine all came out with sleepy eyes as Simon tried to pop his back. "God, that was a rough sleep."

"Really? I slept wonderful." Claude joked as his friends glared at him. Claude held back a laugh as he remembered Carmen once saying that Claude was like a cat; he could sleep anywhere and be comfortable, and he could sleep forever if he could.

Claude watched his friends walk up towards him, but the brunette craned his neck to see the tall, thin cop looking worried about opening the final cell. The short, muscular cop slapped his co-worker on the back of the head as the thinner cop finally put the key in.

The taller cop looked at his co-worker as he said, "She is becomin' a regular here, isn't she? What is this time for, Fred?"

Thr short cop, who must have been Fred, sighed and said, "Howling outside the Old Lady, muttering something about murder in Threadneedle Street, cursing insects and that National Railroad. Had to bring her in with those knocked out kids, George, didn't I?"

The taller cop, who must have been George, shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. A menace to herself; but no dnager to others, surely. She don't belong at the goal, but back in the asylum for sure."

"Too true. But she doesn't act like she belongs in the asylum, so where can she go?" Fred asked.

George ingore the comment as he said, "Let's walk her out, Fred. Take her back to the asylum, but let's not tell Dales. He is going holy hell if he finds out that she stayed overnight."

"What would happened?" Fred asked.

George sighed again and said, "We brought her in the same timne Jack Splatter, the waste of mother's love, was nabbed for gutting that heavy outside of the Mermaid." Claude shuddered as he listened in, knowing that they saw the dead man outside the Mermaid as George continued. "We were taking Lucy down and we meet two coppers walking Jack to his cell."

"Bet you he was mouthing, _'I never'_ and _'Wrong bloke' _ as usual." Fred joked.

"He was. When he saw Lucy, he screamed _'That's the bitch what done it!', _being the usual nonsense man he is." George said. "But Lucy screamed _'You miserable cur!', 'You maggot!', 'Living off of other's larbor!'_, etcetera, etcetera. I'm admiring her line of inquiry, but suddenly she hits her head or something and faints. Couldn't seen her back to the asylum, couldn't I?" George explained as Fred nodded his head.

"And Dr. Dales would pitch a fit?" Fred asked.

"He once told me that he would have me job and me ass on a plate. Told him that I liked both, so I rather not tell him." George explained. He looked to see the person in the cell up and opened the door as the fear he had eariler disappeared. "Good day, Lucy. You should know the way out."

Claude felt his heart jump into his throat as Carmen and Francine gasped as Simon let his mouth dropped, all of them watching the girl in the cell leave and glare at the cops as she tugged on her dress.

It _was_ Lucy, but she looked drastically different than she did in Wonderland.

She still had her beautiful figure, but she looked thinner with her face looking a little gaunt. Her pale skin was sickly pale instead of a milkly white color, and her dark blue eyes had dark circles around them like she had been crying or not sleeping. Her hair was to her shoulders and it was a dull orange color. She wore a pair of ratty and torn dark blue jeans, a pair of worn black combat boots, a black hoodie jacket that was zipped over a white tank top, and a black choker with a sivler Omega pendant around her neck.

All four teens looked at her in shock as her tired eyes looked at them. But instead of the anger she showed back in Wonderland, they held a sadness and confusion that scared them. Her face looked timid as Fred the Cop grabbed her by the shoulders and said, "Come now, Lucy. Time for you to go back to the asylum."

Claude looked at the cops for a moment before he said, "Wait a minute." Th two cops and Lucy looked at Claude as the brunette gulped nervously. He took a deep breath as he said, "You know, you guys are cops and you don't need to take someone back to the asylum with crimes probably going on. If you give her to us, then we can just hop right over to the asylum and drop her right off."

Lucy's mouth hanged open as the cops looked at one another. Fred the Cop let go of Lucy's shoulders as he said, "Fine, then. Just make sure she gets back in one piece. Dales will have your asses if he finds out that she is harmed."

The cops pushed Lucy to go to the four teens waiting for. After a cruel glare directed at the cops, the redhead walked towards the teens with her head down and her arms crossed. Carmen lightly touched Lucy's arm, but the redhead jerked her arm away and tilted her head up to look at Claude.

The brunette nodded his head, like a silent agreement passed through the two. Claude looked at his friends and said out of earshot of the cops, "Let's get to the hotel."

**~0~**

The four teens arrived to the five-star hotel that Francine got a discount at becasue her cousin works as manager. Around one o' clock, Francine's cousin brought them to the huge penthouse on the top floor that was actually two rooms separated by a wall and covered most of the floor. The penthouse had huge glass windows that covered the walls and that showed all of London. The rooms were white and black, with tiles that had not collected dust yet and everything still looked new.

"Holy... Wow, Francine. Your cousin hooked us up!" Simon said as he grabbed his bags, which were brought here by Francine's cousin and one of his workers, and walked into a random room. He smield at the queen-sized bed and jumped on it. "I never want to leave now!"

"Well, my cousin expects us to stay here for the whole month. So, get comfy and enjoy!" Francine said as she grabbed one of her bags and went into one of the black-tiled bathrooms. "I think I am going to take a shower."

"Me too! We have been in the ocean and a dirty jail, and we have not shower yet!" Carmen said as she streched her arms and grabbed one of her bags. "Once I shower, I am changing out of these clothes."

"Agree." Her three friends said at the same time as the boys grabbed one of their bags and went into a bathroom each, since the penthouse had four bathrooms.

As the four teens went into the bathrooms and locked the doors, Lucy stood there as she looked around the penthouse. She slowly walked to the bright white couch and took off her shoes. _"Have then forgot about me already?"_ She thought bitterly.

She bounced her knee up and down, listening to the four showers go on. She curled her fists together as she got back up and walked to one of the bags that were collected at the front door. She kneel down and began rummaging through a bright pink bag, which she assumed belong to Francine, as she bit her lower lip.

"Damn it..." She murmured under her breath as she got back up. She looked around and saw a black phone. She walked towards the phone and called the front desk number, which was printed on the number pad.

For a moment, she waited as the phone ring. Finally, a perky woman in the other end said, "Front desk, how may I help you?"

Lucy twirled a finger on the phone's cord as she said, "Um, yes. I would like to know if there are any nearby knife shops. My dad's birthday is coming up and he loves hunting, so I was wondering where is the closest shop?" As she spoke, Lucy's voice got caught at the word _"Dad"_ and she looked down at her wrists.

"I think there is a nearby shop. Just give me a minute to-" But before the lady could finish, Lucy hanged up the phone as Francine walked out of the bathroom with her hair down, reaching towards her waist. She wore an elbow-length, green jacket with army badges on the sleeves and olive trimming with a short-sleeved blue shirt that had red trimming under the jacket. She wore a pair of pale yellow short-shorts, and a pair of black-and-white low-top Converse. She had gold stud earrings and Lucy could faintly seen a jade bead necklace around Francine's neck. She was carrying a a small, teal purse that had a long strap as she put the other bag on the floor.

Lucy looked at the floor as the small girl sat down on the couch. She looked at the redhead for a moment before pulling out a brush from her bag and began going through her thick, dark red hair. She pulled out two, light blue ribbons with a lotus flower hair clip on each ribbon and placed the ribbons in her lap.

Francine brushed through her hair as she began redoing her pigtails, all while looking at Lucy with her big brown eyes. She began putting one side up as she pursed her lips together and asked the redhead, "Lucy, who were you talking to?"

The older girl in the room was caught off guard, but she gulped and said "It was nobody. I was just asking for some lunch, but I found out that I wasn't hungry."

"Okay then." Francine said as she let the subject dropped. She was finish with one side of her hair as another bathroom door opened to reveal Simon in new clothes as well. Francine perked up and asked the blonde, "Simon, can you help me?"

Simon nodded his head as he walked over there and held the other pigtail as Francine tied it. He wore a plain white t-shirt with the numbers "4" and "6" written in Japanese down the left side, a dark grey hoodie jacket that was zipper over his shirt midway and a orange stripe on the wrists, a pair of light blue jeans, and a pair of grey low-top Adidas sneakers.

Lucy watched the two interacted as the other two bathrooms doors opened. Carmen came out as she streched her arms again and yawned. "God, I am glad to finally be in a real room."

She wore a light blue, long-sleeved shirt that had a slight V-neck. Under the light blue shirt, there was a dark blue-and-white shirt and she wore a white scarf around her neck. She wore a pair of black tights that go to the middle of her thighs and a pair of light brown boots over the tights that went to her mid calves. She wore a pair of lilac short-shorts and there was a black belt around her waist. Her dark purple hair, were was highlighted in this outfit, was pushed back by a simple white headband.

Claude nodded his head in agreement as he yawned and threw his bag across the room, barely missing Francine's head. "Tell me about it. We have been in the ocean, in a jail, in an abandoned house, and in a creepy old lady's house." He wore a pair of dark blue jeans, an elbow-length green plaid shirt that was button-up over a short-sleeved plain grey t-shirt, a leather brown watch on his left wrist, and a pair of all black low-top Converse.

Lucy looked at the brunette as she whispered under her breath, "Why were you in the ocean?"

One of Claude's eyebrows cocked up in confusion as he sat down in one of the white spinning chairs. "Well, it's a long story. But we woke up after we passed out at Nurse Witless' house and we ended up in the ocean."

Lucy still looked confuse before she looked back down at the ground and sat in a wooden chair. "Pris probably got her nephews to drag your bodies to the ocean and threw you in there, thinking you were dead or something."

The four other teens in the rooms became quiet as Simon let go of Francine's hair, which she was long done with. The small girl on the couch looked at the redhead, noticing a few things that her friends did not notice. Francine got up and walked towards Lucy, smiling as she stopped in front of the redhead.

The blue-eyed girl looked at the small girl as she asked, "What do you want?"

Francine smiled as she kneel down to get to Lucy's eye level. "Lucy, we came here to help you. We know so much already, and we are so close to figuring out to what happened to your family. But we need help..."

"What?" Lucy asked sadly.

"We need to know where your old doctor, Oliver Whitfield, lives at. We know he knows something, so please tell us." Francine begged.

Lucy sighed as her small friend begged for infomation. Francine sounded so sweet and innocent and honest, it was hard not to keep in the information. But before she could say anything, her blue orbs glanced at Francine's neck and she was caught off guard once again. "Where are your chokers?"

Francine's hands went to her neck, as did her friends did the same thing. The pigtailed girl looked confuse for a moment before she snapped her fingers and looked at her friends. "We must have left them in the bathrooms."

Lucy frowned at the four teens in the room as they all understood why she was upset. The day before she was sent to the asylum, when she was still at Saint Mary's, they had come into her room as she packed her stuff. But she handed them each their pendants, something she had work on so hard the night beforehand so they can have something to remember her by.

"I'll get them." Claude sighed as he got up.

As the brunette got up, Lucy looked back at Francine. She sighed and said, "Whitfield lives on the corner of Hackney Road, an arterial route running from Shoreditch Church to Cambridge Heath. His house is a bright yellow, three-story Victorian house with a black iron fence around it and there are red rose bushes."

"And you know that because...?" Simon asked.

"I went there once for a session. He couldn't come in due to his wife being sick, so Diana took me there." Lucy explained.

Francine jumped in joy as she looked at Carmen and Simon. "All right! We are going to Whitfield's while Lucy stays here and gets cleaned up." The small girl grabbed a nearby bag of hers and went through it. "I think I have some clothes for her to wear, so she will be fine."

Carmen and Simon looked a little confuse as Francine placed the bag in Lucy's lap and opened the front door. She looked back at them before running downstairs, and finally they ran after her as Simon closed the penthouse's door.

Lucy was left alone as she looked at the bright pink bag in her lap. She looked up to see that Claude was back in the living room, placing the pendants on the glass coffee table before looking around for his friends. He looked at Lucy, but the redhead got up in a huff and went to the nearest bathroom.

The Irish boy, obivously annoyed by the redhead's actions, sat down on the white couch and looked at the white tile ceiling. His golden-brown eyes focused on the black ceiling fan, trying to distract himself with the moving blades. He sighed as he covered his eyes with his arm, wanting to block out the world and get some sleep.

But he heard a loud _THUMP!_ from the bathroom Lucy was in. He uncovered his eyes and shot straight up as he ran towards the bathroom. The door was already slightly cracked, so he pushed it open to see Lucy passed out on the tile floor.

But instead of freaking out as most people would, Claude sighed in frustration as he first grabbed Francine's bag off the floor and put in on the sink counter. Then, he grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her up. He placed her on his back and lock her limp arms around his neck. He was glad that he could feel her chest moving, but he was a little embarrassed as he walked towards the nearest seat.

He gently sat her down on the couch, pulling her legs and arms up so they won't be hanging off. He placed her hands over her chest before sighing and sitting next to her, with her feet touching his thigh. He looked back up at the ceiling as exhaustion came over him. He sighed lightly as he closed his eyes to get some rest.

_**[MEANWHILE]**_

While Claude dealt with a passed out Lucy in the penthouse, the other three teens were down at the front lobby with a few minutes, mostly thanks to Francine's small body being able to run faster than her friends.

As Carmen and Simon finally came down the stairs and tried to catch their breaths, Francine was already on the phone with someone without looking tired.

Simon looked at the dark-skinned girl next to him and said through breaths, "How... can... she... run... so... fast..."

"It's Francine, the track star of Hollow Fields. That's like going up against Claude in a baseball game or me in a volleyball match." Carmen said like it was obivous that Francine was naturally fast.

"Or me in a soccer game." Simon joked, but the curly-haired girl ignored him as she walke up to Francine. He glared at her for a moment before following Carmen to the front desk. Francine twirled a small finger around the phone's cord as they waited for someone to pick up.

As they waited, Simon streched his arms and looked around for somewhere to sit down at. He saw a huge, empty couch near the front desk and nudged Carmen in the side. The dark-skinned girl rolled her eyes as she turned to where Simon was pointing at, but the frown turned into a smile once she saw the couch. She smiled at Simon as she said, "For once, you actually did something right."

Simon stuck out his tongue as the two left Francine alone and walked over to the couch. Carmen plopped herself with her legs curled up as Simon sat on the other side and rested his head on the arm. Soon, only after a few minutes, sleep overcame the both of them.

But while they slept, Francine was still on the phone. Finally, she got the line connected to whom she wanted to talk to. She perked up a little as a voice on the other end, which was hard to heard with the static, said sleepily "Hello?"

Francine smiled even though she couldn't see the person. "Hello there. Are you Dr. Oliver Whitfield?"

"Why, yes. And who is this, may I ask?" Whitfield asked, more alert than ever.

"My name is Francine Steinwald, sir. I am the friend of one of your paitents, Lucinda Snow. I just wanted to see if my friends and I come over to ask you some questions about your session with Lucy." The pigtail-haired girl asked sweetly.

For a moment, there was silence. It worried Francine before the voice on the other end coughed and said, "Well, I guess so. When do you think you can come over?"

"In a little bit, sir. We just landed in London and we want some rest." Francine said as she giggled about her lie. Thankfully, she had soft giggles and Whitfield did not hear her over the phone.

"Of course. I will see you in a while." Whitfield said before hanging up. Francine did the same as she turned to see her friends asleep on a couch.

Francine crossed her arms and sighed, but she couldn't blame her friends really. A whole day in London, and they have not been to sleep and instead running around or being thrown into situations that they were not prepared for.

So, she smiled lightly as she walked over to the couch herself. She placed herself between Simon and Carmen as she curled her legs up so her feet would be touching Carmen's and she leaned her head on Simon's lap. Within a minute, sleep overcame her as well.


	17. Land of Fire and Brimstone

**Black Kitten Chara: Here is Chapter 17 of "Lucy in Wonderland"! I hope that you like it and please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

They were falling through a blue vortex filled with toys, Ruin, and watches around them before they entered Wonderland. But instead of landing on the ground, they were flying through a bright blue sky that playing cards the size of beds flying through the air and making castles, bridges, and platforms before flying off again, repeating this action over and over again. Thousands of feet below the flying cards, there was a piece of land that had lush green grass and running blue rivers.

But that was the last thing on Carmen's mind. "Why the hell are we back in these clothes?" The four teens were back in the clothes they wore when they first arrived to London, but Carmen still wore the black skinny jeans and bash riding boots along with the silver bracelets. Also, Claude was wearing the dark blue jeans he was wearing back in the real world.

Francine looked down at her dress as she pulled down it to keep it from falling up. "Maybe wearing these clothes in Wonderland are like the default outfits in a video game." Carmen rolled her eyes and Simon gave Francine goggly eyes for her knowing what a default outfit was.

"Less talking, more saving our butts!" Claude yelled as he kicked his feet and the Butterflies appeared under him, with his friends doing the same thing.

But as they did so, a figure rush pass them at high speed. Claude's mouth dropped as Lucy fell faster, but the redhead didn't look afraid as she made herself stand straight up as she flew and held her arms out. As she did this, a blue light surrounded her as a set of playing cards flew under her and created a small platform.

Claude and his friends followed her as they slowly fell on the platform. The gentle winds of this area blew some hair into Claude's face, so he brushed it out of his face the same time the blue light around Lucy disappeared and he finally saw her in her Wonderland outfit. And he could have sworn that he would have fainted if Carmen didn't grab his neck to keep him in reality, or at least in Lucy's fantasy still.

Her long hair was tied back into a ponytail by her old red ribbon, which was torn and bent by now, and her blue eyes were surrounded by a layer of black eyeshadow. She again looked healthly, unlike when she was in the real world. She wore a pair of elbow-length, fingerless black-and-white striped gloves and red-and-black stockings with knee-high, gothic black boots that have silver buckles. She wore a pair of ripped-up, black short-shorts with a loosen black belt that has a skull buckle. Around her neck was her black choker with a silver Omega pedant. She wore a dark teal polo shirt that had a white rabbit in a bed of red roses on the front and on the hemline were small, black astrological symbols. The top hugged her curves and her shorts showed off her legs despite them being covered in stockings. Her nails, which were not covered by her gloves, were painted black.

"Hum, hum, humma..." Claude said as he kept his eyes on the punk-looking but sexy redhead. Lucy pulled out two, common household kitchen knives. They both had a long silver blade on a short, wooden handle. Its sharp edge curved outward with blood all away along the blade, and both the blade and handle were engraved with floral patterns.

Lucy flipped one Vorpal Blade in the air before grabbing it, looking at the area they were at, and said "The Cardbridge, the last place to not be destoryed by Ruin."

"What does that mean?" Carmen asked in a curious tone as she brought Claude back to reality, pulling on the nape of his neck as hard as she could.

"This place is above Wonderland's main land, so Ruin can not get here as easily as the other places." Lucy said as she twirled a Vorpal Blade in her hand.

"But the Rabbit House and Deluded Depthes were attack, and they are deattached to Wonderland's main land." Francine pointed out.

At tis comment, Lucy looked at Francine with curious eyes. She mused at hearing this information for the first time, treating it like someone told her that there was a new paitent in the asylum. "The Cat has not told me this information. I must speak with him when we see him next time."

The four teens looked at her as the redhead walked towards the edge of the platform, watching as more flying cards came over and started to create a set of stairs that started to go downward. The four teens looked confuse before they started to follow her, being cautious as they walked down the card-made stairs.

They walked down as more cards created a huge castle. The stairs they were on connected to the castle and they reached the castle within a minute. Lucy pushed some hair from her face as she said, "This reminds me of better times." The four teens raised their eyebrows at the comment as Lucy walked around the makeshift castle.

Claude looked at the redhead with interest as he began following her. Carmen, Simon, and Francine looked at her with curious eyes as the brunette followed the redhead behind a makeshift tower and out of sight of his three friends.

Claude watched the girl with interest as she kneel down and looked through a hole in the ground. He walked behind her and touched her shoulder as he said, "Are you okay?" The action of his hand on her shoulder made the redhead turn around in fear.

But she saw that he was meaning no harm and murmured, "Yeah, I am fine."

"Um, great." Claude said lamely, mentally punching himself for that stupid comment. He looked to see that she was looking back through the hole and asked, "Um, what are you looking at?"

She grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him down. She pointed through the hole and at what she was looking at; it was a skeleton of a rabbit, thin and mangly, wearing a red waistcoat and black top hat with a golden pocket watch in his bony hand. He held back a slight gasp as Lucy said, "I knew his corpse was here. This place seem too peaceful for even me."

Claude nodded his head in agreement, knowing not to tell either Simon or Francine about the corpse. He got up slowly as Lucy's hand stayed on his sleeve, which causes the redhead to blush and take her hand away as she got up as well.

Lucy crossed her arms and blushed as she said, "We need to hurry. That Eyestaff isn't going to come to us, you know."

"Eyestaff?" Claude asked as he watch the redhead turn around and began walking back.

"The Jabberwocky's Eyestaff, of course. We can't get into any of the Kingdoms without it." Lucy said like it was the most obivous thing in the world.

Claude rolled his eyes as he followed Lucy back to the three other teens, whom were looking down a slide made out of cards on the edge of the floating castle. The brunette could hear Lucy's annoyed sigh as she went over to three teens, where the two girls were trying to get Simon to go down the slide.

Lucy walked up to them as she said, "What are you doing?"

The question made Simon, who was on the edge of the slide, trip up and fall down the slide. Lucy looked in shock as the blonde fell down and yelled. Francine, Carmen and Claude also looked shock as Lucy got over hers and looked at them. She pointed at slide and said, "Well, come on then."

They did not know what she meant before she jumped on the slide and went down it as well. Carmen and Claude looked worry before Francine went down the slide, so they followed her as Carmen went down with Claude being the last person going down the slide.

**~0~**

Claude landed into a hot and dry world, colored in browns and reds and black. It almost reminded him of the desert, which his family _had_ to visit that one summer, as he spit the black dirt out of his mouth. He looked at the red sky and the deep carters as he took off his jacket due to the extreme heat. He looked at the long, lava river next to him as high-powered steam came out of the carters.

The Irish boy wiped his bushy eyebrows as he looked up to see Simon on a flat rock with a pair of sunglasses on. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Claude yelled at the blonde. Extreme heat always made Claude cranky, so it wasn't a surprise to Simon as he looked at Claude with a bored expression.

"Yes, your Highness..." Simon said sarcastically as he got off the rock and put the sunglasses back in his pocket. "Just wanted a tan."

"You moron! You are in a dream world, not the fucking real world!" Claude snapped as he turned around to meet the girls, where all three were looking at him with confuse eyes. He blushed as he saw Lucy's disappointed face, whereas the other two girls were used to his crankiness.

Lucy turned around and began heading off towards a building a little while from where they were at. The four other teens looked cofnuse before following her down the path, with a certain brunette feeling glum that he made himself look like an idiot.

The five teens walked down the pathway as hot winds blew hair into Lucy's face, causing the redhead to push strands back over and over again. At one point, when she was pushing some hair back from her face, a small creature came from the running lava river. It was a red-skinned imp with a spear in its hand.

Lucy looked to see this Fire Imp behind the group, but it spotted her and began running, ignoring her friends as it did. Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed as she pulled out six Jacks from her pocket and motion for her friends to move. They did right when Lucy threw them, which casued them to hit the Fire Imp into different directions until one ripped through the imp's throat.

The dead Fire Imp fell to the ground as the Jacks returns to Lucy's hand. She placed them back in her pocket and motion for her friends to continue to follow her, which they did as she kept going towards the mysterious building up ahead.

But they were yet again taking off track when a four-legged, man-like creature made out of lava appeared from the lava river. Lucy sighed once again as she held her Vorpal Blades in her hand, moving away as the Lava Man sprayed lava at her.

She jumped into the air and stabbed the creature in the neck with one Vorpal Blade, holding on tight as the creature flung around. As she held on, she took her other Vorpal Blade and stabbed the monster through the stomach. The Lava Man roared in anger as Lucy jumped off its back and stood in front of the wouned creature as she kicked its feet from under it and let it go back into the lava river.

The redhead turned to see her friends hiding behind one of the rocks, but she shrugged her shoulders and asked, "What?" before continuing on the path towards the mysterious building. The four teens looked both confuse and terrifed as they followed her.

But as they followed her, they ended up slamming into her back as Lucy stood there and looked at the blazing building. Claude rubbed his nose and looked up to see what Lucy was looking at; it was her white, three-story Victorian-styled house but it was on fire. Just like the night Lucy lost her family and sanity.

"Wow, you don't see this everyday..." Carmen whispered. But Claude ignored the comment as he looked at Lucy, but only to see that she was already walking towards the building.

"Lucy, wait!" Claude called out as he followed her, with his friends at his heels. They walked up the small set of stairs, the flames barely licking at their ankles as Lucy went up to the door and held one hand up, but she kept it in the air like she was debating whether or not to open the door.

Finally, with her friends behind her, she grabbed the doorknob and the door swung open. A blast of hot air came over the teens as Lucy walked in as confidently as she could, with her friends following her as they coughed some of the hot air out of their lungs.

Turns out, though the outside looked very much like Lucy's old burning home, the inside was nothing more than an empty space. And there, standing in the middle, was a _very_ tall green-skinned dragon with long, mechanical wings. His eyes were now glowing orbs and on his chest was a furnace-like heart.

And one look at this drgaon wa senough to send Simon, Francine, and Carmen running towards the only stairs the building had as they looked down from the top floor, which was only a few feet taller than the Jabberwock.

The creature looked at Lucy as he said in a deep voice, "You've kept me waiting, Lucy. Have you never heard that punctuality is a virute?"

"You and my destint's assistant have much in common." Lucy snapped with a smirk on her face.

"You habitually late, aren't you? Between your dimwitted daydreaming and your preening vanity, the hours just fly by. There's barely time for anything else." The Jabberwock said as he began pacing around the room.

"Is that the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults? They don't hurt..." Lucy said confidently as she crossed her arms over her chest.

The Jabberwock gave a slight smile as he said, "Your family was expecting you to come to them, weren't they? Perhaps they thought you might warn them of the danger, being close to the source as you were. But they waited in vain and dided for their trouble."

Finally, Lucy's cocky facade faded as she dropped her arms and her eyes were filled with anger. She curled up her fists and yelled, "We were all asleep! I didn't cause the fire! I know..." She trailed off as her voice got caught in her throat.

"You selfish, ungrateful, miserable child! You smelled the smoke. But you were in Dreamland as you had tea with your friends. You couldn't be bothered. Your room was protected and spared while your family roasted upstairs in an inferno of incerdible horror!" The Jabberwock said as his voice got higher and angrier.

Lucy's eyes were now filled with tears as she tried to convice herself that she didn't cause the fire, that someone else did. "No, no, no, no! You're wrong!" The Jabberwock laughed evily as Claude looked at Lucy and held an arm out in front of her. He looked at his friends, who looked at him as he nodded his head towards the creature.

They all nodded in agreement as Claude looked at the Jabberwock and said, "Are you just saying this stuff because you were never invited to a tea party?"

The Jabberwock roared in anger and fly towards the Claude, but the brunette took out his Cheshire Cat and stabbed the creature in the throat. He then kicked the Jabberwock in the stomach as he grabbed Lucy and pulled her to the side, away from the monster as it screamed in anger.

As the Irish boy caused a minor distraction, Simon and the girls looked from the top platform. The blonde looked at the girls with a cocky smirk and said, "I have an idea."

"No, no, no. This is going to end bad." Carmen said as she tried to be rational, knowing Simon's plan will be insane and Francine will try to make a less-crazier verison so Simon can actually make it through alive.

But Simon just smirked as he got up and stepped on the railing of the platform. He grabbed his Hobby Horse and smiled, as Carmen looked at Francine in shock and the small girl ust shrugged her shoulders as she did not know what was going to happen.

"I thought we were going to do another plan." Francine said.

Carmen shook her head, thinking why she was surrounded by insane people. But as she thought about this, Simon's crooked grin got wider as he hanged one foot off the railing and closed his eyes. He raised his hands outwards from his body as he began thinking as hard as he could.

For a moment, Simon felt a cold shiver down his back. He placed his arms down and opened his eyes to see that everyone in the room was frozen in place; Francine looked confuse, Carmen still had her head in her hands, Claude and Lucy were running from the Jabberwock, and the monster itself was breathing fire.

Simon smirked as he jumped off the railing and used Floating to land softly on the ground. His feet touched the ground and he began walking towards the frozen Jabberwock, who was frozen in mid-air with fire coming out of his mouth.

The blonde walked under the monster and looked to see that the Jabberwock's tail was too far up for him just for simon to grab on, pull himself up, and walk up the Jabberwock's back. He bit his lower lip, but his eye brighten up and he snapped his fingers.

The blonde got under one of the Jabberwock's feet and used the Butterfly Dodge to push himself up. As he got higher, Simon grabbed on to the toenail and pulled himself up on the foot. Then he began climbing up the bony leg as he pulled himself onto the back and sighed with relief.

Then Simon walked up the Jabberwock's back, right until he reached the head of the monster. The blonde smiled as he took the end of his Hobby Horse, and placed it right over one of the Jabberwock's eye.

Simon laughed as he poked the eye out with the sharp end, grabbing it as it flew out of the eye socket and floated in the air for a moment. Simon grinned as he held the eye and slidded down the back, but a little gross out that he was holding a slimey eyeball. He went into the air as he jumped off the tail and he used Floating to land back on the ground.

Simon grinned like an idiot as he went over to Lucy, smiling at the Jabberwock as he touched the redhead's arm and she unfroze.

Lucy almost fell by picked herself up as she wiggled herself out of Claude's grip. She looked at Simon as he held the eyeball and said, "Now, what do we need to do now?"

Lucy's eyes became wide as she looked at the eyeball and grabbed it. She twirled it in her hand, unfaze by the gross slime covering her hand, as she said "There is a crook in here somewhere. Find it real quick before you unfreeze anything."

Simon nodded his head as he looked around for the spot he was in, trying to find something weird-looking or something that looked like a crook. Lucy glared at the blonde before sighing and walking over to a small chest. Simon watched the redhead as he saw her hands shaking, so he went over there and tapped her shoulder.

Lucy turned around in fear and almost caught Simon in the jaw, but the blonde moved as he said "Whoa there! Don't hurt me!" Lucy looked to see he meant no harm as she murmured something under her breath like sorry or something along the lines of that. Simon smiled as he kneel down at the chest and said, "Let me open it."

Lucy's eyes looked shocked as Simon took his knuckles and began doing a pattern around the lock of the chest; he began at the sides of the lock twice before tapping his knuckles up and down the lock and hitting the middle three times. Lucy heard a soft _CLICK _sound as the chest's lid flipped open.

The redhead had her mouth open as Simon pulled out a long, grey wooden staff with a small, G-shaped crook at the top that looked big enough for the glowing eye. the blonde smiled widely at Lucy as he took the eyeball and placed it in the small, G-shaped crook. The crook glowed as a small wire came from it and wrapped around the eyeball, keeping it in place.

"Awesome!" Simon said happily as Lucy walked away towards Claude.

She went to Claude and unfroze him. The brunette took a deep breath before seng the frozen fire in front of him and jumping back a little. Lucy rolled her eyes as she watched Simon unfreeze Carmen and Francine, while her and Claude walked away from the still-frozen Jabberwock.

Francine and Carmen ran down the stairs with Simon, and the Eyestaff, right behind them as they met Lucy and Claude at the front door. Lucy opened the door once again as Claude saw the pain and fear in her eyes. He touched her shoulder and said, "You okay?"

"Huh?" Lucy looked back at him before she realize what he had said. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine." But Claude knew damn well that she had just lied to him about that.

Simon finally reached the door, the Eyestaff mainly weighing him down, as he said "Yeah, we can leave!"

But Lucy pointed towards the Jabberwock and gave a glare that sent chills down Simon's back. Without questioning her, he looked at the Jabberwock and began focusing on the time in the room. Suddenly, a wind picked up as speed began going fast to catch up to its normal time pace.

The Jabberwock's fire hit the wall as he screamed in pain. "MY EYE! WHERE IS MY EYE?" But nobody answered him as the five teens left the buring house and were engulfed in a bright white light.


	18. Notebooks and the Eyestaff

**Black Kitten Chara: Welcome to the new chapter of **_**"Lucy in Wonderland"!**_** This chapter will have some intense moments! **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Claude woke up with a headache as he groaned and opened his eyes to the dim late afternoon light. He saw that he was back in the penthouse, with the clothes he had put on after taking a shower and the chokers Lucy made for them so long ago on the glass coffee table. He craned his neck around to se that the bathroom door was still open from where he had gotten a passed out Lucy from the floor.

And as he turned his head, he saw that a certain redhead had her head on his lap. Her head was buried into his thighs and he could feel her breathing in and out, her hot breath giving him chills. One hand was curled up to her face while the other hand was right above his belt, like she was keeping herself steady by holding on to his belt. Her legs were curled up to her chest, with her knees touching the outside of his left thigh.

Claude gulped as he slowly began to move her off his thighs, starting with her hand above his belt. But it seem like she had a tight grip on his belt, like she was trying to rip his pants off. After a few minutes, he gently took off her hand and placed it on the other side of her face, but near his groin now. He sighed as he picked up her head and held it as he pulled his legs up on the couch.

He balanced himself on the couch, on his tiptoes as he rested Lucy's head back on the couch and tried to figure out how to get over her without waking her up. He gulped as he streched one leg over her, but he lost balance almost right away as his foot on the ground lost its place and slipped.

The brunette fell backwards on the side table near the couch. Lucky for him, his feet didn't hit Lucy as he crashed onto the floor with a glass lamp brekaing under him. His shirt flipped up, so glass got into his back with side wound showing and his lean, lean stomach that had a slight six-pack showing as well. His feet were propped on the couch and in the air, groaning as his back began to hurt.

_"At least Lucy didn't wake up."_ He thought. But that wish was quickly shot down as the redhead stirred, got up, and looked down at Claude with curious blue eyes.

"What are you doing down there?" She said in an angry tone.

"Bleeding internally, that's what." Claude snappped, looking up as he expected to see Lucy rolling her eyes at him.

But instead, he found her just looking at him with huge eyes. What he didn't know that she was looking at his lean, flat stomach and the side wound he had. _"Wow, looks like the years have done some good on this moron. But where did he get that wound?"_ Lucy thought as she looked up and down at his exposed stomach.

Claude stared at the girl with confusion for another moment before getting up and groaning, "What are you looking at?"

Lucy began blushing wildly as she got up from the couch and yelled, "Nothing, you biggot!" She walked as fast as she could into the bathroom without looking odd, but Claude cocked an eyebrow anyways as he got up and wiped off the glass from his clothes. He looked at the broken lamp and realized how much money that would cost, so he was happy that his mom conviced him to bring that extra $1,000 dollars to London.

He picked up the pieces of the lamp as he placed it on the kitchen counter, and he was happy that the side table didn't break but fell over. He walked back to the side table and pushed it back up as he felt a sudden chill run down his back. As he placed the table back up, he looked around to see what was watching him as he remembered something that he should have gotten out here Lucy was still in the living room.

Once he got the living room decent-looking, he went to the bathroom he used to shower in. The bathroom was big with white walls, a black ceiling, and black-and-white tile floor. The walk-in shower was still streming from his shower and his clothes he first came in were thrown on the floor, like he usualy does with his clothes at home.

He picked up his black leather jacket and went through the inside pockets, finding what he wanted on the first try. He pulled out a small, red journal with the elegant, golden writing on the front that said _Property of Lucy Snow._ A small, red ribbon bookmark hung from the inside as a golden lock was broken.

He held the notebook in his hands as he left the bathroom and went into the living room. He sat the journal on the coffee table as he heard the shower stopped in Lucy's bathroom. He listened carefully as he heard the sound of feet touching the tile floor and a drawer opening. He gulped and decided to wlak over to the door, but only to listen.

As he got near the door, he placed his ear on it gently to listen what was going on. _"I know Lucy would be willing to do anything to stop her pain, but she wouldn't kill herself? Would she?" _Claude thought in a scared tone as he kept a brave fave.

He pressed his ear harder on the door as he herad the sound of a bottle opening. He felt his heart jump into his throat as he pressed his ear harder, only to fall right into the bathroom as the door was not lock and he didn't sit on his knees to listen, instead he had to stand up in cas he needed to run away or run for help.

As he fell into the bathroom. he grabbed the first thing he could and fell on the floor with a loud _THUD! _as he hand tightly gripped whatever he grabbed to. He groaned as he realized whatever he was holding was soft and fuzzy, so he opened his eyes to see a pair of long, slender, and milky white legs in front of him.

He dared to look up and saw an angry Lucy, who was barely holding her towel over what needed to be covered. Claude let go of the towel right away as he felt all of the blood go straight to his nose and his cheeks heat up. He laughed nervously and said, "Um... Sorry, Lucy. I thought I heard..."

"YOU. ARE. DEAD!" Lucy yelled as she kicked Claude in the jaw while wrapping the towel around her body again.

The brunette ran out of the bathroom as Lucy ran after him. But he closed the door as she came closer and held his body against it as she slammed against it multiple times. He covered his nose and slidded down to the floor as the thumping stopped, trying to contain his laughter as he remembered the look on her face as she chased him.

He wiped the blood from his nose as he got up and sat in one of the spinning seats. He laughed as he remembered her angry face, which he found amusing. He picked up her journal and held it gently in his hands.

But he was so busy thinking about her angry face, the brunette didn't notice that the same redhead he was thinking of had just came out of the bathroom with jeans, white sneakers, and a grey sweatshirt on. Her hair was back in its usual ponytail and she looked a cleanier now. But she had a crazed, angry look on her face as she stomped over and saw her journal, making her even angrier.

She took the brunette by the collar and threw him out of the chair. He hit the ground hard as he groaned and dropped the journal, but Lucy grabbed it in mid-air and held it close to her chest like it was a precious treasure. Her eyes teared up as she gritted her teeth and yelled, "How dare you look at my journal! the only thing that had kept me sane in that damn asylum for the last six years, and you had to look through it!"

Claude looked up to the hurt look in Lucy's eyes, so he quickly got to his feet and began rammbling, "No, no, no! I never... I found... This is a misunderstanding!"

"The only misunderstanding here is that I trusted you to come to this damn hotel! You probably going to hurt me like everyone else did so far; emotionally, physically, or maybe try to grab my breasts like those dolt twins try to do! Well, you can forget about it becasue I rather be at the asylum than stay here!" Lucy yelled at the top of her lungs, the hurt behind ever word.

Claude looked at her in shock as he kept his anger about those twins trying to touch Lucy. He waited a second after she was done before stepping closer to her, then waiting again in case she suddenly brought out a pocket knife. When she just stood there still, he got closer again as he held his hands up to show he meant no harm.

"Lucy, I didn't read your journal. I swear! I found it in Kaioh's house and decided to give it abck to you. I promise you that is the honest truth." Claude said in a soft tone like he was talking to a wild animal.

But Lucy caught on to his tone and said, "Why are you treating me like I am some animal?"

Claude was caught off guard now and felt a little offended, thinking he was just being nice. He curled his hands into fists as he glared at the redhead and his mouth became a hard straight line. "I am trying to be nice to you. Why are you acting so rude when I am trying to act at least friendly to you?"

"Because nobody has never been nice to me besides my family. Not any of the kids at the schools I went to, not at Hollow Fields when I first got there, and there isn't a saint at the asylum. I know I had friends, but after six years I thought you moved on so I closed myself off. So that is the damn reason why I am so mean." Lucy said through gritted teeth as he pointed a finger at Claude's chest.

"But we are here now, Lucy. There is a difference in wanting to be here more than anything but can't and just not wanting to come at all. I _wanted_ to see you again. I _wanted _to take you out of this hellhole and bring you home. But I couldn't. I had school to deal with and my parents were too stubborn to let me come here without a high school degree at least." Claude said in an angry tone with his eyes blazing with fire.

Lucy backed away a little as she held the journal closer. Her eyes began to well up a little, but Claude didn't notice as he kept going with his rant. He had so much anger built up inside of him from coming to London because all he went through in the real world and Wonderland, and now was bad time to let it out.

"You are acting like a conceited, snobby little bitch when we are all trying to help you! For once, shut you damm mouth and let someone else talk before you go on a rant about how life is unfair to you! It is unfair that Francine, Carmen, Simon, and I are dragged into your fantasy world just to save your damn ass! You know, we can just pack up right now and take your scrawny ass back to the asylum and we can leave! So, be fucking grateful that we are here because right now, I am wondering why I ever loved you!" Claude said these words with such hatred and anger, that the air just felt hotter with ever word.

When he was done, he instantly felt horrible and realized that he had cross a line. He looked at a now-hurt Lucy, remembering the horrible words the Jabberwock said and realized that monster they faced was an embodiment of Lucy's guilt and hatred towards herself. Even though a monster in her mind said to her, that it what Lucy thought about herself when the fire happened.

Lucy's eyes were watering now as she dropped her journal. She began crying, not loudly yet, as she kicked the journal towards Claude. Now, with her journal away from her, she wiped her eyes and sobs began racking her body.

"Is that what you think of me?" Lucy cried.

"Lucy-"

"I guess it is because you won. You fucking won and now you can look at my journal all you want. You can take me back to the asylum, leave London, and forget about me becasue that is all you want. You don't care about me anymore, so just go and take that damn journal with you. In fact, you can forget about going to the asylum because I can deal with myself." Lucy said through tears.

She pushed pass Claude and went back to the bathroom. When she opened the door, it finally clicked in Claude's head what she was about to do. He turned to see Lucy pick up a razor and a pill bottle from the sink as fear ran through his veins.

"Lucy, don't!" He ran to the bathroom and got the redhead in a hug-like grip from behind. The pill bottle dropped, but she still held the razor close to her wrist.

"Let me go, you bastard!" Lucy screamed as she began kicking him. "You said that I am not worth fighting for anymore, so I will take myself out of your world!" As the razor got closer to her wrist, Claude grabbed the razor and threw it on the floor. "Hey, give that back to me!"

"And let you kill yourself? Yeah right!" Claude said as he dragged the redhead back into the living, locking the bathroom door behind him, and sitting her down on the couch. She struggled still, but he sat on her legs so she couldn't run away.

Lucy continued to struggle, but she finally stopped after she realized that it was fruitless in trying to get a strong boy off of her. She placed her face awat from Claude as she began sniffing again, trying to stop herself from looking weaker than she already shown to the brunette. Claude felt her trying to turn away as she closed her eyes and her lips trembling like crazy as she kept herself from crying.

Claude looked at her and felt awful, just horrible, about what he said. Like she didn't have a shattered reality as it was already, but now she was just broken into a million pieces because of him. For the past six years, she believed that nobody cared for her since her family died and now he just comfirmed that another person is not willing to deal with her. He just made a complete ass out of himself because he was angry at not getting answers _for_ her that he took it out on her instead.

"Lucy... I'm sorry." He said as quiet as he could, trying to cut the tension slowly.

But she didn't answer back. He sighed, leaned back, and ran his fingers through his hair. Lucy pass a glare at him doing this, and for some reason her fingers twitched as she wanted to do that. _"No, after all that he said to you, all you can think of is running through fingers through his thick, soft, beautiful hair? Wait, why I am thinking of his hair like that?" _Lucy mentally yelled at herself as she curled her fingers so they woudl stop twitching.

She let her tears fall on the white couch as she felt something watch them. The hairs stood up on her neck as her hand absently went under the couch and began feeling under it. Her heart stopped as her fingers curled around something and she pulled it from under the couch as her hand began shaking.

She lifted up a long, light grey sherherd's crook with a G-shaped crook that had a glowing, ornage orb in it that had twines wrapped aorund it to get it in place. Her eyes grew wide as Claude gasped in shock. Lucy dropped the Jabberwock's Eyestaff as the orb began to glow a whitish-blue.

**~0~**

Meanwhile, as Claude and Lucy argued like a set of 2nd graders, three teenagers were already in a cab as they headed off to Whitfield's house. They were in the back of a stinky old cab as Francine read the directions on a map and spoke in a soft tone even though she was 99.9% sure their cab driver was deaf.

"Okay, let's go over the plan one last time. I will distracted Whitfield and maybe his family if they are there as I pretend to be a college student doing a report on him and I heard his name from Lucy's asylum, where Lucy is my friend there. While I do that, Simon will ask to use the restroom as he unlocks Whitfield's office, which he will show us when I ask for a tour, and Carmen will ask can she get something to drink. After that, you two grab the notebook and get back to the front door as I wrap up tlaking to Whitfield." Francine explained as she showed the driver directions again.

Simon and Carmen nodded their heads as the cab halted to a sudden stop in front of a three-story, bright yellow Victorian house on a corner. Surrounding the house was a black iron fence and on the bottom of the house were tons of red rose bushes. The windows and door were painted a bright blue with a black roof, giving the impression of a dollhouse.

Simon gave a look of surprise as he said, "Out of all of the houses, she thinks we couldn't find one that looks like my sisters' old dollhouse."

Francine opened the gate as they walked towards the front door. She knocked on it three times before a gruff voice on the other side was heard and locks were being undone. A tall and stocky man in his mid-fifties opened the door as he coughed harshly. His white hair was sticking all over the place and his grey eyes were sickly-looking. He wore a yellow nightgown as he said, "What do you need?'

Francine whipped her head to her friends as she instantly felt bad about coming to a sick man's house just to get a notebook. But Carmen saved her at the last minute and said to the man, "Are you Mr. Whitfield?"

The man coughed again as he said, "Yes, I am. Now, may I ask who you three are?"

Carmen laughed as she said, "Why, sir! How can you not remember three college students who loved and admired you?"

Whitfield cocked an eyebrow up at the lie and said, "Excuse me, young miss?"

"Sir, we were medical students that admire your work. We came to the asylum where you worked at one day, but you were too bust to answer questions for our reports. But now that we have graduated, we wanted to come and see the man who inspired us to go into the medical field, or at least his house!" Carmen lied with confidence and a charming smile.

Whitfield's eyes were huge in shock as he smile face created a small smile at the teenagers. He coughed again before opening his door wider and said, "Come in and I will give you a quick tour."

The three teenagers nodded, but Francine grabbed Carmen's elbow as the dark-skinned girl turned to see Francine giving her a _'Not-part-of-my-plan' _look in her eyes. Ignoing their original plan, Carmen waved off the girl as they walked in, trying to seem like college students.

The house was simple with only two couches around a coffee table and a TV on a long table. A set of stairs led to the other two levels of the hous eand many pictures were hung around the house, basically of cats and a group of children with Whitfield and a woman. The doctor started up the stairs as he said, "So, what do you want to see?"

Francine gulped as she said, "Um, we would like to see where you keep your notebook. As a great doctor, we have to at least see your notebook and your office."

The doctor nodded his head, not seeing the ruse under his nose as the three teens followed him upstairs. He gave a few coughs every once and a while, but he was able to get up the stairs as he opened the first door near the stairs and entered it.

The teens followed him into a small and green-walled office with boxes set everywhere and papers scattered all over the floor. A small desk had a black binder journal on it, and a book shelf was empty as many of the books were already in boxes. More pictures were in here, but they were on the ground with open boxes ready for them to be put into.

"I'm sorry for the mess. Moving is hard when your wife leaves for even a day." Whitfield said in a harsh voice as he cleared his voice.

At this point, Francine saw her moment and smiled kindly. She grabbed the man's arm and smiled gently at him as she said, "Sir, you cannot even stand up. How about we leave and you go back to bed? In fact, I will take you to your bedroom and make sure you are comfy before we even leave."

Whitfield smiled kindly as he said, "No my dear..."

"Please, let us do you the favor since we got you out of bed." Francine said as she led the man out of the office. But before she left, she glared at her friends and pointed at the binder before leaving the room and going down the hallway.

As Francine and Whitfield disappeared down the hallway, Carmen jumped towards the binder and grabbed it. She stuffed it in the black backpack she had brought and zipped it up tight. She grabbbed a random book from a box and palced it on the table as she covered it with papers so Whitfield may just throw it in one of the boxes without thinking twice about it.

"Okay, let's go..." Carmen was about to tell her blonde firned to come on when she turned around and was instantl embarrassed, even though it was only them two in the office still.

Simon had his hands behind his head as his upper lip turned into a duck bill-like shape so he can balance a pencil on his upper lip. Even though he was doing this trick, he smile a little and murmured, "Carmen, look what I can do!"

Carmen felt her eyebrow twitched as she slapped the pencil off his lip and grabbed the blonde by his sleeve. She dragged him out of the office as Francine came down the hallway on her tip toes, placing a finger over her lips so they could stay quiet. They nodded their heads in agreement as they silently went down the stairs.

They got out of the house as Carmen hailed a taxi and they got inside the cab before speeding off, leaving Whitfield blissfully oblivous to the fact that his own notebook was stolen by three teenagers.

**~0~**

Back at the penthouse, Lucy and Claude sat in uncomfortable silence as they stared at the Eyestaff, which Lucy had place on the coffee table. Claude had remove himself from Lucy's legs, but the redhead didn't have enough energy or spirit to run back into the bathroom to kill herself because she knew that Claude would be behind her again. They stared at the orb, which was a bluish-white now, as Lucy moved to comfort her hurt shoulder.

What Claude didn't know is that when he put her on the couch, in a very rough manner to be exact, her shoulder was bruise on impact. But she kept her eyes from watering up again as she brushed some hair back and gripped the couch with such fierceness that it may rip if she let go. Now, the hurt and sadness in her eyes were still there but fiery anger had taken over in her eyes to mask her pain.

After a moment, Claude bit off another piece of skin from his lip and looked at the redhead, who had curled her legs so her feet would not touch his legs. He sighed as he heard the door open and his spirits lifted up a little, but Lucy growled as Claude's friends came through with a flushed look on their faces.

"Sorry, it took us so long." Francine said as she sat in the seat near the door.

"Yeah. But it wasn't hard getting the notebook!" Simon said in joy as he sat in one of the spinning chairs, which was near Claude. The blonde saw the sad look of Claude's face and Lucy's angry face. He looked at Claude and cocked an eyebrow at him, which was an instant but silent question between the two.

But before Claude could answer, Carmen smiled wildly as she dropped the notebook in Claude's lap. The brunette looked at the notebook and picked it up gently. A smile came on his face as Simon got up and began going towards the kitchen. Carmen followed him as Claude got up as well.

"What kind of soda do you guys want?" Simon asked as he grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge.

"Same as you have." Carmen and Claude said at the same time as Simon grabbed two more sodas and threw them to his fiends. Claude put then notebook on the counter as he sweeped the glass remains of the lamp into the trash without anyone noticing and opened the notebook with great care.

As the three teens in the kitchen began looking over the notebook, Francine watched the sad look on Lucy's face and but her lip. She looked at the Eyestaff, which came to no surprise to her that it was here because she felt like it would be here. But she was confuse on the new bluish-white color in the orb.

She got up and kneel down at the coffee table. She gently touched the Eyestaff, wrapping her fingers around it as Lucy watched her and nodded her head. Francine could have sworn she heard Lucy say something along the lines _'Kingdom of Diamonds'_ but she ignored it as picked up the Eyestaff and held it in both hands.

But back in the kitchen, Carmen was amazed at the notebook. She pointed to four drawings and said, "Whitfield wrote right here that Lucy made these drawings based off her friends. What could that mean?"

Claude shrugged his shoulders as he took the four drawings from the page. He spread them out to see which one was different but in the same child-like manner; the first one had a drawing of a girl that looked like Francine, but she had white hair and blue eyes. The second one had a drawing of a boy that looked like Simon, but with ginger hair and yellow eyes. The third one had a drawing of a girl that looked like Carmen, but she has wavy dark brown hair and green eyes. The last one had a drawing of a boy that looked like Claude, but he had black hair and red eyes.

"Well, each one has a drawing that looks like one of us. But what does that mean?" Claude asked.

Simon pointed to the messy handwriting at top and said, "Maybe these are the names of the drawings. My little sister always name her drawings at the top, so it is a good chance to know what Lucy was thinking of at the time."

Claude and Carmen nodded their heads in agreement as they tried to look at the handwriting, but they were almost to the point were the handwriting just looked like scribbles.

But after a second of looking, they were distracted when they heard a small _THUMP_ in the living room. They turned to see Francine sitting on her knees, holding the Eyestaff tightly in her hands and her head hanging low. But what shocked them was the fact her eyes were clsoed and her entire face was covered in bluish-white-silver swirling marks.

"Francine!" They all screamed as they tried to run to her, but Lucy got up and kneel down to Francine's level.

"Stop. She is in the Kingdom of Diamonds, and I must follow her. I need to meet the Queen of Diamonds as she saves the Kingdom. She will be fine, don't worry." Lucy said in a monotone voice.

The three teens stopped as Lucy took in a sharp intake of air and fell on her back on the floor, passed out as the three friends just stood there in shock.


	19. Francine: Kingdom of Diamonds

**Black Kitten Chara: Here is the first of the Kingdom chapters, which is the Kingdom of Diamonds and Francine's own personal chapter. I hope you enjoy these chapters and please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

It was cold around her, with ice and snow covering her body already as she laid in the ground. She was so cold that the snow began to burn her skin as she felt her nerves dying out and her breathing became heavier as the cold air made her lungs so tight that the cold air coming into her lungs made her body shiver on the inside. She felt her body go numb, but she forced herself to open her eyes. They were so frozen with ice that it took her a moment to get them open and she saw the bright sunlight, which hurted since it shone off the frost on her eyelashes. She forced herself to curl her frost-covered hands, just to know if she was alive.

Francine forced her hands to push her up. The snow on her fell down back on the ground as she forced herself to breath better. She made her shaking, thin legs get up as she grabbed on to a tree and balanced herself with cold hands. When she got a good grip on the tree branch, she looked around at her surroundings.

She was in a world filled with snow, ice, frost, and diamonds with every shade of blue, silver, and white coloring this world. She was in the middle of a forest where the entire ground was covered in snow, the sky was ice blue with a blazing white sun, and a frozen-over lake just a few inches from her feet. The trees were not normal ones, but they were completely made out of ice with sharp brances and leaves. Even the glass looked like it was made out of ice and the flowers, beautiful ones in fact, looked sharp and glassy in their ice-like state. The wind was sharp and dangerous with a gentle snowfall coming down around her. The lake, frozen over, looked like it had diamonds under the ice and it sparkled beautifully as the sun hit it.

Many miles from the forest, Francine could see a beautiful castle from where she stood thanks to a clearing in the trees. A long path led to the castle, which stood on a snowy mountain top, and many snow-covered trees surrounded both sides of the path. The castle was made out of beautiful, glassy ice with four tall towers on each corner, the roof was made out of white snow, and the towers had tilted glass windows made out of diamonds. The main building also had window, but they were bigger and made out of the same diamond-like material with snowflake designs on them. On top of the castle was a huge diamond structure made out of ice as two swirls came from the sides and came between the towers.

Francine's body was so cold, so rigid with frostbite that it was hard for her to even stand up still even with her holding a tree branch. She let go of the branch as she decided she wanted to go back to her world, or at least leave this world. But instead of feeling the soft ground on her back, she felt a pair of strong arms holding her up.

"Simon...?" She groaned as she looked up to see not Simon, but another boy. The boy held Francine as he sat her down on the ground, her back leaning on the tree, as he looked at her with concern eyes.

"Um, my name is not Simon. It is actually Art." The boy said as Francine got a good look at him. He was about seventeen, with snow white hair and huge ice blue eyes that went well with his pale skin. He was tall and skinny, with delicate fingers and elfish features. He wore grey pants, a long-sleeved mosh green shirt, and a sleeveless brown leather vest as he had no shows on his bare feet.

Francine felt the boy hug her, bringing warm to her cold little body. But the strange thing was that this boy, Art, felt as cold as she did yet she felt warmer then she had when she woke up. He let go as heat rise to her cheeks and her newfound heat made her nerves jump up as he touched her arms.

He looked at her for a moment before asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Francine." The small girl said.

"That is a pretty name. And you are a very pretty girl." Art said, only making Francine's cheeks become hotter. "But you wear our clothes while your appearance is so... fiery."

Francine stood up from her spot so she can have an excuse to let the blood leave her cheeks, leaving Art confuse as she walked over to the lake. Thankfully, with the lake frozen over, Francine could see her new outfit that Art was talking about.

She wore an icy blue-colored strap-sleeved lace dress, with a bottom that fluttered, and the dress had straps of the sleeves that tied into a white bow around her neck. She wore a pair of sparkling white pants that end three inches above her ankles that looked rather tattered and worn at the bottom. She also had a bracelet with a snowflake charm on each wrist that had a string that connected to a silver ring on eahco f her fingers, and she had an anklet with a crescent moon charm on her right ankle. On her earlobes, she wore a snowflake earrings and the ears' cartilage had crescent moon earrings. Her hair was in an odango style with white pearl hair bands and on her feet were icy blue flats with ankle straps.

Francine was in shock by her icy-colored clothes, but she couldn't stare long as a girl around sixteen came crashing through the forest. She was tall and slender with an angular stature, a very slender waist, and angular facial features. She had deathly pale skin, and long and thick white hair that had uneven streaks pink, purple, and blue mixed into it. Her grey eyes had lilac eyeshadow with lengthy white eyebrows over them. Her high ponytail was held by a white band. She wore a light blue, stomach-baring low-cut top that has two straps on each shoulder with white fur covering the straps. She wore a white mini-skirt that had light blue fur on the hems with a silver leather belt around it. She had on pair of white leather, strappy kitten heels that had light blue crystals and a silver leather choker with a ice crystal at her throat. Her diamond-decorated wings are arched-shaped, lined with silver with a white background that had shifting purple, pink, and light blue swirls.

"Art, we need to leave now!" The girl snapped in a demanding tone.

"I'm sorry, Tinka. But I found this girl almost half-frozen in the ground. she could of died if I didn't help her!" Art said as the girl, Tinka, rolled her eyes.

Francine smiled as Tinka looked at her and began looking at the small girl up and down. Her pink-tinted lips curled into a mean fown as she snapped her long, pink nails at Art and pointed towards the castle.

"We need to leave! Gwyneira found our secret hiding spot and we need to book it out of here!" Tinka said in a rude tone, like Art was her dog instead of a friend.

"But Francine could help us."

"Who is Francine?"

Art pointed to the small girl as Tinka raised an eyebrow. He sighed and said, "Doesn't she look familiar?"

Tinka looked Francine up and down with interest, her eyes taking note of her every detail of her body. Finally, a small smile curled on Tinka's lips as she looked back at Art and said, "Could this be the lost princess, Aneria? I thought she died."

"She did, but the creator of Wonderland said that heroes who look like the lost heirs shall ocme to save us all. Maybe she can save us and the kingdom from Gwyneria." Art said in a soft tone, sounding like the snow that covered the land. "She could probably save the lost crystal of the Queen."

Francine listened to the conversation with interest. After a moment, she raised a hand as she caught Art's attention. Tinka turned and glared at the girl as Francine asked in a kind voice, "Can I ask who is Gwyneria?" Both of Art and Tinka's eyes became wide with shock as Tinka gave a small giggle.

Art still had his mouth opened but gulped and said, "Gwyneria is the witch that has been destorying our kingdom. You see, Aneria- the girl we mistook as our princess- died when Ruin came and attacked her when she went missing. She died without any wounds on her, but her mother was convicted of killing her daughter by Gwyneria. After the queen was excuted, Gwyneria began terrorizing our kingdom and hid the Snow Crystal, which belong to Aneria."

Francine's eyes went wide as she remembered Simon telling her something after they met the Elder Gnome; the Queen of Hearts' son had died under the same circumstances. She remembered Claude showing her the heart necklace but they never said anything about the Queen of Hearts being murdered by her own people.

"But Lucy... I think she believes that the queen here is still alive." Francine said to the two teens in front of her.

"I wouldn't be surprise. Our queen could have gone into hiding like the Queen of Hearts and just used a double during the beheading. But that wouldn't explain why the Queen's crystal is in Gwyneria's hands." Tinka said with a tone that told Francine that the fairy didn't trust her.

Art sighed and went over to Francine. He pointed to the castle and said, "Gwyneria lives in the castle now. Can you help us?"

Francine looked at the beautiful castle and thought about Lucy. She knew the redhead was in there, somewhere and looking for the Queen. She knew that there could be Ruin somewhere here and that she had to save Lucy from her own mind, even if she had to do without her friends beside her. She knew that this snow queen made to be taken down or else someone, whether her or Lucy, would die and maybe never see the real world again.

"Okay. I will help." Francine said in a soft voice.

**~0~**

It took a long time, but Francine with the two snow people reached the beginning of the pathway the led to the castle. Art was still smiling voer the fact that they had someone more pwoerful than themselves to kill Gwyneria, but Tinka still had a sour look on her face like she didn't want Francine's help at all.

The small girl touched the archway, which was made out of sharp pieces of ice. For some reason, her hand wasn't cut up by the sparkling edges of the ice as her eyes followed up to the castle. She gulped as she realized that she didn't have a weapon to fight with, with her Umbrella and Teapot Cannon missing for some reason.

And Tinka also seem to realize this. She snickered and said, "You are of no help if you don't have a weapon."Francine whipped her head back to glare at the snow fairy, but as she felt anger in the pit of her stomach, she felt something soft in her hands.

Francine looked to see a long, icy blue chain made out of ice-shaped links and sapphires set in each link. The ends of the chain was tip with a silver handle that had a small, double-edged and double-pointed scythe blade made out of glass attached. Three dark grooves appeared below each blade and each handle had a thin, white fuzzy strap wrapped around her hand.

Francine smiled as Tinka huffed and said sarcastically, "Well, lucky you."

But the small girl ignored the rude comment as she began walking up the path, with the two snow people following her as one was more reluctant than the other. The path was covered in a thin layer of snow, but Francine's thin-covered feet didn't feel cold at all. In fact, they felt burning hot to the point where Francine wanted to hold them tight.

The three continued up the path with the small girl leading them. She held her new whips tight, but she felt afraid. She wished she had her hot Teapot Cannon, hoping she could burn the ice around her with one shot. Or even her Umbrella, which would have kept the snow off of her.

And with Tinka complaining the whole way, Francine felt like she was on edge. Being on edge with anger was rare for the normally calm Francine, who kept a sunny smile on her face no matter what and brought sanity to her friends. At least Art was actually trying to help Francine instead of complaining like the snow fairy was doing.

But as they made their way up the curvy path, Francine saw something flicked at the corner of her eye. She stopped dead in the path, with Art and Tinka slamming into her back. The snow fairy growled as she snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Don't you know how to walk?" Her eyes filled with anger as Francine breathed in and out, trying to keep her cool and not strangle Tinka.

She turned around and there, sitting on the edge of the path, was a wooden door that had flicking flames being the window and the name _**SNOW**_on the top. Francine walked over there and looked at the doorknob, seeing that it was the symbol of Mercury elegantly designed into the metal doorknob.

"Francine, what are you doing?" Art asked.

The small girl gulped for a second. She placed her hand on the doorknob, opening the door ever so slowly as she said "I am going to see Lucy's memory." Then she entered the door with the flames licking her skin before the door closed behind her.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Francine opened her eyes to see the Snow's home being burned to the ground. She was surrounded by people and for some reason, she felt like her old ten-year-old self. She looked around to see that beyond the crowd of people, she saw two men and Carmen surrounding an unconscious girl.**_

_**She blinked for a moment to see three firefighters, masks covering their faces to keep smoke out, carrying three bodies out. Two adults, burnt until their skin was blacken, were being placed into bags as the third body was being placed on the ground.**_

_**Francine covered her mouth as she saw two men covering over to the third body with a bag in their hands. The firefighter who carried the body out picked it back up. But as he did, Francine felt tears run down her face as she screamed loudly, causing everyone around her to stare at her with curious eyes.**_

_**Lucy's older sister, Phoebe, wasn't burned by the fire. In fact, the fire wouldn't have killed her because she was **_**already**_** dead. Her throat was slited so deep that her head was now hanging by a layer of skin, blood rushing down as parents covered the eyes of their children and other people screamed, but not as loud as Francine.**_

_**Because the reason why Francine yelled is because she heard Lucy crying in the background. Crying for her dead sister.**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

Francine felt like she was being jerked out of the Memory Door as she fell on her bum, back into the cold snow that she left. Tears ran down her eyes as her body tremble, but it wasn't because of the snow this time.

_"I should have told Lucy. I was the only one who saw her sister like that, besides all of those people. But they wouldn't have told her, but I should have. Instead, I forced it in the back of my mind to forget it."_ Francine thought.

She curled her knees to her chin, placed her head on them as she felt guilt surge through her body. She thought she was at fault, thinking she added to Lucy's madness. _"But what if I told her? She could have gone crazier."_ But all of a sudden, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked to see Art behind her.

He kneel down to her level and wiped tears away from her face with the sleeve of his shirt. He smiled and asked, "Are you okay?"

She couldn't speak, but she nodded her head lightly as she got up and walked back on the path. Tinka was still on the path where she originally stood at, with her arms crossed and a mean frown on her face. The small girl ingored Tinka as Art came back over to them and the three began walked again, this time slower.

Francine felt her body shaking still as she continued towards the castle. Tinka and Art followed her towards it. The snow fairy behind Francine huffed angrily and Art stood between the two girls, knowing something was wrong with Francine as she seem shaken up.

The three were now in front of the castle. Francine didn't know that the path was this short, as it seem longer than it did when she was at the beginning of it. She felt her entire body freeze up as she touched the door slightly.

But even the slightest touch caused the doors to swing open. Cold air blew all over the three, with both Tinka and Art didn't seem as bother as Francine as she held her arms close to her chest. The sharp gust of wind finally died down as the entire inside of the castle glowed as it was made with over millions and millions of diamonds, each carefully creating the walls and floor as the ceiling was made out of smooth, clear glass. Francine averted her eyes enough to see and walked inside.

And when she walked inside, she walked into a battle.

There, on each side of the huge main room, were two women. Lucy stood on the right sid eof the room, with her Vorpal Blades in her hands and a fireceness in her eyes. She wore her hair in a side braid with ice incrustations. She wore an off-the-shoulder, diamond-incrustationed dark blue dress that fell to her upper thighs. At the top of her dress is a white, transparent cape that fell to her ankles covered in icicles and snowflakes. On her arms were sleeves of sheer silver material that wrapped tightly around her arms with snowflakes designs. On her feet were white ballet slippers, with criss-crossing straps that went to her knees and her feet pointed like she was a ballerina.

On the left side of the room, was a six-feet-tall, strikingly beautiful woman staring down the redhead. The Amazion-like, proud-looking woman had unnaturally pale white skin that was smooth and flawless, cold and narrow blue eyes, and long pale blonde hair that was lush with black tips. She wore a tight-fitting, white silk Romanesque dress that fell to her feet and with two feet of white farbic pooling around her feet. Even though she couldn't see her feet, Francine could see a pair of glittering silver heels with ankle straps. On her shoulders, she wore of a white fur cloak with huge white, angel-like wings on her back and her on head was a crown made out of ice.

In the woman's left hand was a crystal-made wand. It had two ends, one at the bottom that had a short icicle-like crystal, and one at the top that had a longer one. It also had a silver and black coloured handle. The wand started off at the bottom with the short crystal, followed by a silver handle, then a black handle, followed again by another silver handle, and ending with the long crystal. There were also some engraved images on the wand, which looked similar to a vine of thorns, starting at the base of the short crystal (right where it connects to the silver handle), which then curves its way around the wand up to the base of the long crystal.

Francine felt fear overcome her as the woman looked at her and laughed. But the laughter was cold and hollow. Her pale lips curled into a smirk as her voice, which was cold with a firece sorrow covering it, said "So, this is my enemy. A small, little girl with only a snow lad helping her?"

"Only a snow lad...?" Francine said in confusion. But then, she heard a sharp _CLICK!_ of a switchblade.

She turned to see Tinka holding Art by the neck, with a switchblade made out of ice at his throat. The snow fairy giggled madly as she said, "Miss Gwyneira, I brought them here. I brought them here for you to kill..."

But right when she finished, Art kicked her in the stomach as she dropped the switchblade. Lucy smiled as she looked at Gwyneira and yelled, "Looks like your lackie is useless!"

Francine and Art heard a sharp whistle from Lucy, catching their attention. She smirked at them as she yelled, "Francine, you deal with Miss Gwyneira! Artie boy, you deal with the snow gremlins and make sure Francine doens't get hit by ice shards! I will deal with that bitch of a fairy!"

Tinka looked up to see Lucy rushing towards her with such elegance movements, it almost seem like the redhead was part of the graceful winds in the castle. But before Tinka could react, Lucy twirled in the air and kicked the fairy in the face, causing Tinka to fly in the air and slam against the walls. Lucy rushed over to beat up Tinka some more as Francine and Art looked at Gwyneria.

The snow witch smiled as she blew a small stread of breath at the two. But instead of a small puff of wind, the breath became a strong gust of cold wind that was so harsh and cold that it burned Francine's skin. The small girl held her arms together as she saw the snow on the floor moving.

The snow became small gremlins and these monsters began biting at Francine's heels. But Art grabbed Francine by the wrist and said, "On the count of three, I will throw you." Francine nodded her head as Art began counting down. "One... Two... Three!" He flung her away from the gremlins as she flew towards Gwyneria.

She pulled out her chain sycthe and was ready to attack, but Gwyneria laughed as she took an elegant hand and slapped Francine like she was a fly.

The small girl felt the wind being knocked out of her lungs as she few to the other side of the room. She crashed into the wall, causing a huge hole as she felt rubble gathering around her and her entire body began to ache with instant pain. Her chest felt like it was burning, with the cold beginning to go through her skin and the pain that she felt in her body from that hit causing tears to roll her face.

She sniffed a little as she thought about how she knew that this fight wasn't going to be easy. _"Since when have any of the fights in Wonderland been easy?"_ Francine asked herself.

She remembered something from a long time ago, when Lucy was still at Hollow Fields and she had just gotten her body back. She remembered Summer, her former friend, coming up to her and saying the rudest things about Francine's family, which were consider traitors to the mad science world as they gave infomation to first-world countries. She remembered Summer pushing her down, and as Lucy and Carmen tried to fight the lilac-haired bully with Claude holding them back, she remembered Simon kneeling down to her and checking her wounds. Then she heard him say, _"You can't let people push you around, Francine. Sometimes, you have to fight back."_

Then she had it. Somehow, she didn't know how it came into her mind, but she realized that maybe she didn't have to fight. She remembered how hollow and sad Gwyneria's voice sounded and she knew that the snow witch didn't chose to be evil. Maybe something caused her to run to the brink of insanity.

Francine stood up to see Gwyneria coming closer to her. The small girl saw Lucy fighting Tinka, with the redhead winning, and she saw Art trying to defend himself from the snow gremlins. Francine coughed some blood up as Gwyneria smiled down at the pigtail-haired girl, causing instant shivers to run down Francine's back as she looked up to meet the snow witch eye-to-eye.

But before Gwyneria said a word or attack, Francine asked in a small voice "Why?"

Gwyneria was caught off guard as Francine stummbled up and looked at the snow witch with sad eyes. The very tall woman stared at her and asked in a cold tone, "What did you just say?"

"I asked why. Why are you acting like this? You are not part of the Ruin that is destorying Wonderland. You can help, yet you decide to hurt people in this kingdom. Why?" Francine asked in a sadder tone as tears ran down her eyes.

Gwyneria was caught off guard by the softness of Francine's voice, the kindness and honesty behind it. She felt her entire being shook to its core as she said in a shaky tone, "You... You don't understand..."

"I can understand. I just want to know and help you." Francine said as she inched closer to the snow queen.

"Help me?" Gwyneria said as her voice began cracking.

"Yes. I know something is wrong with you. Someone as elegant as you, as beautiful as you can't just turn evil at a drop of a hat. I know that something must have drove you to this point and I just want to help you. I want to help you become good again because I can see that something has caused your heart to become cold." Francine said as she walked until she was in front of the snow witch.

Gwyneria felt her entire body shaking, as an unusualy feeling raced through it, as Francine wrapped her skinny arms around the woman's waist. The unusual feeling became stronger as some kind of watery substance raced down Gwyneria's eyes, falling down on her cheeks as her lower lip trembled uncontrollably.

Finally, the snow witch wrapped her arms around Francine and said, "I never had love like everyone else. I see love between people and I want it so bad. My sister... She was loved by everyone. Her daughter was loved by everyone. But I was forgotten and nobody loved me. Nobody respected me, honored me, or even cared for me. I became cold, so sad as I let my ice powers go out of control. When my sister and daughter died, I took the Snow Crystal." Gwyneria said as her voice cracked. Finally, she sobbed loudly as she hugged Francine tighter.

As the two hugged, the gremlins melted around Art's feet. Lucy and Tinka looked in shock, but the snow fairy, who was now was mad with anger, tried to get one more lethal attack on Lucy. It was the worst, and last, mistake for Tinka as Lucy caught on to the attack early and drilled a Vorpal Blade right in Tinka's throat as the other went into the snow fairy's stomach.

Lucy pulled the Blades out as Tinka's body fell to the ground. Art stared in shock, but he didn't question anything as he followed Lucy over to Gwyneria and Francine, who were still hugging one another.

Lucy smiled as Francine let go of Gwyneria, with her hands on the snow witch's shoulders. She smiled kindly as she said, "You can be loved, but you must show love and kindness back. Show that you, an elegant and refine queen, does have her flaws. Make the remaining residents of this land understand who you really are. Can you do that for me?"

Gwyneria nodded her head as she touched her fur coat. From under it, she pulled out a long thin piece of strong that had a diamond pendant that was made out of ice. She placed in gently in Francine's hand, where the small girl watched Art bow down, and said "You are a truly special girl. Not even the princess, my own niece, would show that kind of love towards people."

Francine smiled as Gwyneria and looked at Art. Her eyes followed up Lucy's body until she saw the redhead's smiling face. Lucy winked and gave a thumbs-up, right before darkness covered Francine's vision and she flet lightheaded.

**~0~**

Francine snapped her eyes open, finding herself back in the penthouse. Her hand let go of the Eyestaff, letting it drop to the floor as the orb colored fom its beautiful icy blue color into a dark, murky grey color with streaks of green in it. She caught her breath, shaking to the core as she saw that it was three o'clock and raining as hard as it could outside.

She got up, seeing that Lucy was laying on the couch, as a bedroom door opened. She saw Simon, in a grey t-shirt and plaid boxers with his hair sticking everywhere, as he yawned and blinked at the small girl. But after a second, he regain his senses and said "Francine?"

The pigtail-haired girl didn't say a word as the fear from being alone in an unknown kingdom, without even the Cheshire Cat to keep her company, and tears began to fall down her face. She ran over and hugged Simon tight around the waist as she forced the tears rolling down her face to stop and stop the blush on her cheeks to go away.

"Francine, what is going on?" Simon asked.

"What is going on? I should be asking you that!" Francine said in a surprised tone.

Simon rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Well we were waiting for you to wake up. But it started raining and we decided to sleep a little bit since we haven't slept in a long time. I woke up because I heard a crashing noise from in here." Simon pulled Francine off, kneel down to look at her face-to-face, and asked "Okay, now what happened?"

Francine began telling her story, from waking up in the snow to meeting the snow people to the Memory Door to the battle. She kept certain parts, like Art hugging her or she remembering Simon during a battle, because she felt too embarrassed to tell Simon.

The blonde listened carefully as he nodded his head. Finally, he looked Francine dead in the eyes and said "Okay, now where is this Snow Crystal?"

Francine bit her lower lip as she placed a hand in her pocket. She kept going through her pocktes in her pants and jacket unti lshe felt a diamond-shaped item in her jacket's inside pocket. She gently pulled out the Snow Crystal as both her and Simon stared at it with shock and amazment.

"Wow..." Francine said.

"Tell me about it." Simon said as he saw the Eyestaff rolling slowly on the floor. He walked towards the Eyestaff and Francine pouted like she was five again, not having Simon hold her shoulders anymore, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

After a moment, the room was still silent as she realized Simon would have said something by now. She turned to see him sitting on his knees, with the Eyestaff on his lap as he held it tightly. His face was covered in black swirly marks as Francine heard Lucy make a sound and move on the couch, like she was having a sudden change in her dream.

So, Francine did the only thing she could think of. She yelled on the top of her lungs, "Claude! Carmen!" as she ran into their rooms.


	20. Simon: Kingdom of Spades

**Black Kitten Chara: Here is chapter 19 of **_**"Lucy in Wonderland"!**_** This chapter revolve around Simon in the Kingdom of Spades, so enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!**

* * *

Darkness and gun shots. That is all Simon saw and heard when he was stuck into Wonderland by himself. He remembered falling and hitting his back on something hard, then the gun shots filled with ears as he felt dizzy and blood filling his mouth. The gun shots were close, so close that Simon thought he felt a bullt graze over his shirt as he began to feel numb from falling down thousands of feet and landing on a hard surface.

After a moment, Simon woke up in a decent-sized makeshift cave. The cave was constructed out of wood and metal, with different covers on top to keep anything out of the cave. Simon was laying on a dirty mattress and his eyes scanned the room, seeing that there was a lamp, some covers and pillows, a small stove with two pans on it, a full-sized mirror and a collection of books near the bed. But what caught his attention was the collection of weapons in a trapdoor that was opened.

Simon blinked a few times as he got up from the bed and went over to the hidden trapdoor to look at each weapon; there was a Colt M4A1 Carbine, a Remington 870, a broadsword, microbombs, knives, a Heckler & Koch UMP45, grenades, tomahawks, a Daewoo K3, two guns that looked like Glock 17, two M1911A1 Pistols, katanas, a .303 British Lewis Gun, and makeshift Molotov cocktails.

The blonde teenager was in awe at the collection of weapons, wondering who had these dangerous tools in a makeshift cave like this. Not only was he a huge fan of anime and manga, but he loved weapons like these because his father and older brothers were huge hunters.

He smiled as he turned his head to the sides, looking to see if anyone was even living in here. But his eyes were caught by his reflection in the mirror, which was broken in some places. simon saw that he was now wearing an army green jacket with decorative badges and zipper details. On the front of the jacket, there was a wide grey zipper and the collar of the jacket was popped up. Under the jacket, he wore a plain white t-shirt. Along with the outfit, he wore black jeans with matching black, knee-high combat boots and matching black fingerless gloves. His pants had zipper details on the sides, with three zippers on each thigh. He wore a pair of white goggles with orange lenses around his neck.

He smiled at his reflection before returning his attention to the weapons, grabbing the two Glock 17 guns and held them carefully in his hands. But he didn't have time to fully inspect the weapons as he heard a _CLICK!_ of a gun behind him.

The blonde turned around, dropping the guns and thankfully that they were not loaded, as he saw the end of a Flintlock Pistol in front of his face. He gulped nervously as he raised his hands in surrdener and said, "Don't hurt me! I was just looking!"

But it was too late. A bullet whizzed pass Simon's ear, but the blonde thought it hit him until he heard the scream of a dying animal. He turned to see a monster fall on the ground as blood gushed out of its chest, but he couldn't see it well due to the lack of light in both this new world and in the makeshift cave.

He turned back to the Flintlock Pistol, but he saw that it was now at the side of a girl as the girl said, "That was close. I didn't bring you all the way into my home just for you to get killed by a Devil O'Whine."

The girl was no more than fourteen or fifteen. She had flawless pale skin, blue-green eyes, and white-blonde hair. Her hair was long and wavy, which were placed into girlish pigtails. She was short and has a slender built along with pouty lips and large, vulnerable eyes that make her look younger. She had a distinctive nose feature, with her nose being long and slender with a soft tip. She had a strawbery lollipop in her mouth. Her outfit looked like a Japanese school girl (sailor fuku). Her outfit featured a midriff-bearing top with nautical collar and flap, and a miniskirt with a large slit. She wore a black headband with thigh-high, black stockings and white, Mary Jane heels with black heels. It was navy blue, covered in sparkles and rhinestones.

Simon was in shock by this sweet-looking girl holding a gun like a Flintlock Pistol, but the girl snapped him out of it by snapping her fingers in front of his face. She smiled when he was snapped out of his trance and said, "My name is Dollie. What is your name?"

"Um, Simon." The blonde teenager said.

Dollie snapped her navy-painted nails as she said, "Dang it. For a moment, I thought you were the supposely dead prince of this land, Troy. But of course, Troy had red hair and golden eyes and you obivously don't."

Simon laughed lightly as Dollie picked up the two Glock 17 guns form the floor and handed them back to Simon. She smirked, with a hand on her hip, and said "You will need this to survive the Kingdom of Spades."

Simon nodded his head numbly as Dollie sat on the bed, smiling as she said "You must be wondering what happened, right?"

"Yeah." The blonde said right away, not remembering how he got into this makeshift cave.

Dollie smiled as she crossed her legs like a lady, placing her Flintlock Pistol to the side like a lady should. She gave a warm smile and said, "I found you when you fell fom the sky. A bunch of Devil O'Whines were around you, but I killed them before they got to you. Then I dragged you back here, to my home, and I have been keeping a watch out for a safe getaway."

"A safe getaway?"

"Yeah. you are going to help me invade the castle and stop Him." Dollie said.

"Who?" Simon asked.

"Him. He is a disgusting monster who took over after the Queen of Spades was excuted when Troy died. She had four kids, three sons and one daughter, but the daughter and other son went missing after Troy died and before their mother was excuted. So, as the only heir left, Him took over and it was been Hell since." Dollie explained.

Simon nodded his head like he understood as Dollie got up, grabbed her gun, and grabbed something from the side of the bed. It was a skateboard with red wheels and a green deck that had a picture of a skull at the jaw.

Simon looked at awe of the skateboard as Dollie handed it to him and said, "You will need this. I know the path, so use this to keep up with me."

"Keep up with you?" Simon asked in confusion.

**~0~**

Within a minute seconds after leaving the makeshift cave, Simon understood real quick why he needed a skateboard to keep up with Dollie into the war-like kingdom he was in, completed with a dark grey sky, murky rivers, trenches, and bodies stacked up on other another.

He was riding the skateboard, which Dollie called Marvick, as he was holding a rope that was tied around Dollie's petite waist. And as he rode along the piles of ruined buildings, Dollie was running at high speed even though she was in high heels and was shooting at Devil O'Whines with perfect aim.

Since he was in the light, Simon could see the Devil O'Whines better now and he was not happy with the sight he saw.

They are long, lean, black creatures that was banded with champagne red and crimson red. They had six legs, with each paw having three toe and an opposite thumb. Their hairless skins appeared burnished and their low-slung heads had chitinois armor around the neck, which turned to amphipod plating on the back of their necks and spines. They had distensible, snakelike jaws with obsidian black teeth and a paddle-like tail that had a triangular point. Thei heads were rounds with curved horns over their pure white eyes, and they had long and huge noses.

Dollie shot with increible aim as Simon got a shot in every once and while, since he was too busy holding the rope to wory about shooting.

After getting through an attack with one group of Devil O'Whines, Dollie stopped as Simon stopped the skateboard and said, "Wow, that was hard..."

For that comment, he felt the Flintlock Pistol hit his head with great force and he fell to the ground in pain. He rubbed his head as he looked up to see Dollie holding her gun in her hand and she had an annoyed look on her face that was directed to Simon. She gritted her teeth and snapped, "You idiot! You haven't killed one Devil O'Whine yet! I have been doing all of the work!"

Simon grimaced as he thought about how much this girl reminded him of Carmen, whether he liked it or not. Not that he hated Carmen, it was just that he somehow got on her nerves and she got on his nerves. But this girl reminded him of Carmen's stubborness, her pride, her strength in a fight, and her habit of hitting Simon over the head when he says or does something stupid.

But his mind wandered off as he watched Dollie sat down on a pile of rubble. She looked so much like Francine with her youthful appearance and pigtails, so it wasn't hard for Simon to think about his best friend. Dollie shared so many traits with Francine; the brains, her loving and caring nature, the innocence she has in her when she wasn't in battle, and the amazing laugh that sent chills up Simon's spine. He could also see the beautiful nature between Dollie and Francine as they both had a hopeful spark in their eyes.

After thinking over the traits Francine and Dollie shared, Simon stopped his train of thoughts as a deep blush came across his face.

_"I can't actually be in... Francine is my best friend. I have known her since we were in sixth grade! I woud have known if I liked her by now, right?" _Simon thought as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. But then he felt his heart grow with fondness as he smiled softly at the thought of being with Francine. _"Maybe being in love with her isn't so bad."_

He thought about how wonderful Francine was, but then his mind wandered to his two other friends. _"As much as I hate to say this, I miss Claude and Carmen as much as I love Francine."_

But before he could go deeper into thought, Simon heard a gun shot go off as he looked up to see Dollie shooting at more Devil O'Whines. Simon got up and began shooting at them, surprising himself by his great aim as he killed off about three in a row.

"All right, Simon!" Dollie yelled as she began running again.

Simon jumped back on the skateboard and grabbed on to the rope as Dollie carried him away, but he kept his perfect aim as he killed off more upcoming Devil O'Whines.

**~0~**

After a while and a few more dead Devil O'Whines, the two came upon a castle in ruins. There was basically four walls still, but there was no roof and there was a large hole on the front of the castle. The towers were torn down and the moat was dried up to the point where Simon could see the dead fish. It looked like the castle had been through many wars without repairs in the last hundreds of years. There was dried-up corpses in the moat with bones pilling up.

And the first thing Simon did when they stopped was vomit. The smell of the dead bodies was so bad that the blonde had to go behind the bushes and throw up. But after he was done, he began to get used to the smell real quick. He wiped the vomit off with the sleeve of his jacket and went back over to Dollie, who was looking around. "He lives here, but..." She trailed off and Simon looked at her with confused eyes.

She pointed to something far away in curiousity, but Simon noticed it quickly. It was a door with flames behind the window and the top of the door bearing the name _**SNOW**_. The window had metal bars and the bronze doorknob had a green glowing Loki symbol that even Simon could see from afar.

He looked at Dollie and said, "Wait here" as he walked up to the door and opened it, walking into the flames with no fear.

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

_**Simon opened his eyes to find himself feeling like he was twelve again. He was much shorter at that age, even though he still towered over his classmates. But how he knew he was twelve or so was the fact he was in a crowd of adults that he was shorter than and he saw a house burning.**_

_**Now he remembered. Him and Claude stayed behind to ask police questions about what happened, but Simon wandered into the crowd.**_

_**The blonde started to go foward, wanting to see Lucy as something crunched under his foot. Simon looked down to see a piece of paper in the snow, so he went down and picked it up as he unfolded it.**_

**Dear Lucy**

** I am sorry for telling you my darkest secret; how I am being stalked by that Dales character. I regret telling you because I don't want you to worry about me or protect me. I know you have been insulting Dales and attacking him. I don't want you to be harmed by this character, knowing that he is unstable. I don't know why he assumes I am teasing him when really, I find all of Father's undergraduates are toadies or weaklings as they grovel to another man, even if that man is our wonderful father.**

** Lucy, I love you more than anything and all I want for you is to grow up happy and find a wonderful man to love you. But knowing you, how stubborn and hot-headed you can be, you will find a way to make things hard on yourself. But I mean that with love as you are the most beautiful little sister anyone can ask for. You are beautiful not only looks (us Snow girls have wonderful genes) but in personality; you're innocent, kind, funny, intelligent, stubborn, strong-willed, and so much more that I cannot put into words.**

** I know I haven't been an angel, like you; losing my purity at fourteen, sneaking out at night, drinking and smoking, and hanging around kids who were not a good influence on me. But I changed and I don't want you to be like me at that age. The only reason I acted like that because Mum and Dad were not paying attention to me and instead worrying about you going to that school, but at fourteen years old I didn't know how scared they were when they thought you were dead or missing or kidnapped. I want you to be a happy, young teenager who is pure and innocent like you are now.**

** Love,**

** Phoebe**

_**Simon felt his heart stop as he realize this could be the final letter from Phoebe, Lucy's dead sister. But what disturbed him even more that when he looked back down, he saw the open copy of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", where the note was placed in.**_

_**[MEMORY DOOR]**_

Simon left the Memory Door as he thought of one thing and one thing only; He should have shown Lucy the letter from Phoebe. That was her sister after all, but then Simon remembered only days before the fire, Lucy said something about her sister being stuck-up and a tattle-tale because Lucy had Claude over so they could do some homework. But now Simon realized that Phoebe was only acting that way in Lucy's eyes because Phoebe cared for.

But he didn't have time to think as he heard Dollie shooting at something. He pulled at his pistols, but the shooting stopped as soon as it started.

Simon walked back over to Dollie as something rummbled into the bushes, both of them having their weapons ready to fight. They were both tense as two figures appeared from the bushes, but Dollie already cocked her gun's barrel as she was to kill them even though one was human.

The human was a boy around 17 or 18, so Simon dropped his weapons as he realized that he didn't want to harm someone close to his age. The boy was tall and lanky, but he didn't have the muscle definition Simon had. He had a gaunt face with his chin being covered in a thin layer of a brown goatee. He was pale-skinned with dark brown hair that was messed up and gloomy brown eyes that had dark rings under them. He wore a white button-down shirt with brown pants that had a hole in the right knee, suspenders with the one on his right shoulder hanging down a little, and black dress shoes taht were covered in mud.

The other figure was a huge Devil O'Whine. Simon held up his guns again, preparing to fire at the Devil O'Whine instead of the boy. Dollie must have been thinking the same thing because she was ready to fire as well.

But then, the strangest thing happened that even Simon, who has been in Wonderful for the past few days, was confuse.

The boy jumped in front of the Devil O'Whine and looked panicky. He waved his hands at the two but didn't say anything. Simon and Dollie dropped their weapons, as the boy pointed at the Devil O'Whine and began gesturing to the creature as Simon saw Dollie's face soften.

"Oh... So, what you are saying is that this Devil O'Whine is a tamed one? That's rare." Dollie said. The boy nodded his head rapidly as the Devil O'Whine walked towards the two teenagers that were planning to kill it.

The monster smiled and did the second most surprising thing: "Hello, there. My name is Spirit and the boy over here is Frank. We are very pleased to meet you." The talking monster bowed as Dollie and Simon stood there in shock.

Spirit laughed as he said, "Why so surprised? This _is_ Wonderland, after all."

Dollie was still in shock as Simon regained his cool, something he learned when being turned down by girls constantly, as he kept a straight face and said "So, why are you talking and Frank isn't?"

Spirit laughed again as he gave a toothy grin at the blonde teenager. "Well, I found Frank a while back after the Queen was excuted. He could not speak at all, poor thing. Me, being one of the more refined creature of my kind instead of a mindless killer, decided to take him in. It was then we established a mental connection where whatever he needs to say, I translate for him. Of course the girl over there..." Spirit jerked his head at Dollie, "seems to know sign language."

Dollie regained her posture and cool as she smiled at Spirit and Frank, Her eyes were shining in a way that Simon have not seen since he had met her, but he assume that it was something good. She bounced on her heels as she grined widely and petted Spirit, which the Devil O'Whine didn't take so lightly as he tried to bite her hand off. But Dollie was still smiling and even giggled a little.

"This is great! We can all team up and fight Him! He can't possible go against a weapon expert like me, a strange forgeiner like Simon, and a Devil O'Whine that has a physic connection with a human who can led him! This is awesome!" Dollie said with excitement.

Simon at first thought that Spirit or Frank was going to back out, but then the third oddest thing happened within the last few minutes; both of them nodded their heads in agreement as Dollie squealed happily. She grabbed Simon's wrist as she led him to the castle with Spirit and Justin behind them.

**~0~**

The four entered the castle to find themselves in the main room with someone waiting for them on the other side of the room.

There, sitting on a destroyed stone throne with bones and trash around the bottom, was a small and chubby boy around ten years old at least. The boy had pale skin, with wavy white-blonde hair and brown eyes with dark circles under them. He had pouty lips for a boy, with his brown eyes large and vulnerable-looking. He had a distinctive nose feature like Dollie, with his nose being long and slender with a soft tip. He wore a black t-shirt with baggy black jeans, black boots, and silver bracelets on his wrists.

And in front of the throne, knocked out, was Lucy. Her red hair was piled into high bun on her head, adorned with a set of black goggles on her head. She wore a leotard-inspired, black bodysuit with a plunging neckline and a zip front closure, faux leather brown glovelettes with long fringe detail, black belts hanging off her hips, a choker spiked choker on her neck, knee-high black combat boots, fishnet stockings, and a faux leather black mini-skirt.

"LUCY!" Simon screamed, but Dollie kept him back as the boy's eyes found them in the darkly-lit castle.

"Hello, there..." The boy said, speaking in a voice meant for a thirty-year-old. He chuckled for a moment at Simon's outburst, kicking Lucy's head slightly as a small trickle of blood came down. Then he looked back at the three teens and devil O'Whine at the enterance.

"Who are you?" Dollie asked in fear as she held up her gun.

The boy chuckled as he looked at the four. He pointed at Dollie then at Frank, but his eyes wandered to Simon but he didn't point at the blonde teenager. He smirked as he leaned his head on one hand and said, "You two are my siblings. That one.." He pointed at Simon, "looks like our brother who died."

"What...?" Dollie asked, fearing rattling her voice.

The boy snickered as he continued. "Prince Troy was our brother and you are my siblings. I am the Him you feared so much, or Herrick as you used to know me. During a battle that broke out when our mother was excuted, you two lost your memories and wandered off, leaving me to rule this kingdom. You two were suppsoed to rule with me but instead you fight against me."

Simon looked over at Dollie and saw she was listening with interest. But then, her face twisted in anger and she screamed on the top of her lungs, "NO! YOU'RE WRONG! I WOULD NEVER BE A PART OF THIS AWFUL REIGN! YOU'RE LYING!" Frank hid behind Spirit as Dollie screamed.

Herrick's face twisted in anger like Dollie's was, and Simon could see the family resemblance unfortunately. He pushed a button on his throne as huge tubes and a screen appeared behind the throne. The tubes connected to Herrick's back and the screen started to show charts of Herrick's body.

Soon, Herrick was lifted off his throne as his body twisted and turn in gruesome ways. Foam started to form in his mouth as fangs appeared in it and his eyes rolled behind his head as they were replaced with red eyes that had slits. His torso twisted as he began growing in both height and size. His skin pulled over his newly-formed muscles and his head puleld outward for his long neck to be form.

Simon stared in shock (along with Dollie, Frank, and Spirit) as Herrick became a hulking monster with long arms and legs, a long neck that had a monsterous face, his torso was muscular now with veins popping out, and only his jeans stayed on as his shirt was ripped into pieces.

Herrick growled loudly as he swung his arm and caught Simon right away. Dollie screamed as the blonde teenager was slammed into the wall of the castle and was thrown outside as the wall came down instantly like an explosion happened. Dollie began crying, but her and Spirit began fighting as Frank hid behind the front of the castle, out of sight of Herrick.

As the fight began, Simon laid there in pain as his hearing began to dull. He was pretty sure that he had broken something, and he felt like he couldn't breath form that impact. He closed his eyes, giving into whatever was coming upon him at the moment.

But then he remembered when he first met Lucy and the frighten look on her face when he was sent to the Windmill, when he saved her and Claude from the Windmill Children, when he regained his memories back in a clone of his body, and Lucy's last few days at Hollow Fields. He remembered Claude and Carmen, who were hard on him because they cared for him but not his stupidity. Then, his final memory, was of Francine smiling and laughing at one of his stupid jokes when no other girl did.

Simon snapped his eyes opened, suddenly feeling stronger, as he pulled himself up and coughed up blood, but he didn't care. He remembered how his friends were so strong and brave during fights, and for some odd reason, he felt like they were there with him.

He got up to see Herrick lifting Dollie up by the throat and Frank was shaking Spirit, who was breathing but knocked out. Spirit was in a gaint crater and he was bleeding a lot. Dollie was shaking and she had a huge cut down her thigh as she began coughing for air.

Simon suddenly felt strength and power overcoming him as he charged back into the castle. Instead of using his guns, he grabbed a sword that was hanging off the wall and began charging right at Herrick. He slashed at Herrick's hand, cutting them off as Dollie fell to the ground and backed away while getting the monsterous hands off of her neck.

Herrick growled at Simon as he grabbed the blonde's forearm with his free hand. Simon almost dropped the sword and screamed, smelling acid around him. He looked to see Herrick drooling on his hands, which the drool was acidic and began burning Simon's hand. The blonde kept tears from flowing, but one escaped.

But since Simon grabbed the sword with his other hand, he slashed at Herrick's face and the monster boy let the blonde go. Simon caught Herrick's eye, which caused the monster to scream.

While he was distracted, Simon took this chance and began slashing at Herrick's tubes and screen that was on his back. Each tube came off and acid poured on the ground, and the screen fell and stattered into a million pieces as Herrick slowly began turning back to his human form.

But he was still raging mad as he grabbed one of Simon's pistols, which fell when the blonde was charging at him, and shot Simon's thigh. The blonde dropped the sword as he grabbed his thigh, jumping up and down while yelling "Son of a bitch! You shot at my fucking leg!"

Herrick began chucking evilly at the sight, but Dollie ran at him and kicked him in the jaw, causing Herrick to drop the pistol. She sat on the boy's back as she wrapped her arms around his chest and began pulling his arms upwards, making the cruel ruler scream in pain. She smirked as Frank got Spirit to get up then they both came over there.

Spirit looked at Simon as he began licking the shot wound, but Simon let this one slide as he was in too much pain to care. Then the blonde pointed at Lucy, who was still knocked out, and Spirit nodded his head as he went over to the redhead and began licking her wounds and trying to get her up.

Dollie and Frank looked at Herrick for a moment as their memories began rushing back in; They _were_ supposed to rule together after their brother died and their mother was excuted, but Frank was to be king as he was the oldest after Troy. Both of them looked at Herrick with disgust, then Frank looked at Simon.

Him and the blonde teeanger shared some kind of phsyic connection because Simon understood what the king wanted as he grabbed the sword off the ground and handed it to Frank. As he saw his older brother grabbing the sword, Herrick growled at him and looked at Frank with pure evil clouding his eyes.

A tear rolled down the king's cheek as he stabbed his own brother in the heart from the back. Herrick stood there for a moment before coughing up blood before his eyes rolled behind his head and he went limp. Dollie held back tears as she got up, her face covered in blood, while Spirit was bringing a semi-conscious Lucy over to the group. Simon smiled at her and she smiled back as she leaned against Spirit for support.

Then Simon turned to see Frank and Dollie looking at him as Dollie whispered, "That sword..."

"What about it?" Simon asked.

"Nothing could hurt our brother. It is a trait the children of the Spade Kingdom have, is to be immune to local weapons. But the sword you held was touched by a foreign king. It was touched by you." Dollie said in shock as she began reaching for something in her pocket.

But she couldn't get to it in time before Simon began bowing to them, leaving even Lucy in shock. He smiled at them, no words were needed as they understood how grateful he was to them. Dollie began crying happy tears as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a long, thin string that had a twisted piece of metal at the end at looked like a spade.

She placed in Simon's hand as she said, "This was our brother's. It is known as the War Pendant. Keep it safe."

Then she kissed him on the cheek, which caused Simon to blush and Lucy to snicker at him. He stuck his tongue out at Lucy and glared at her, but she did the same thing back as he touched his cheek. But he didn't have time to think about the kiss before a wave of darkness overcame him.

**~0~**

Simon returned to the real world around five o'clock and to the sound of running, screaming, and crying all happening at once. He dropped the Eyestaff as the murky grey with green streaks began to change to a brown color that had an amber tint to it.

He got up right when the front door opened and a small being tackled Simon back down to the ground. The blonde looked to see Carmen and Claude glaring at him from above, all while Francine sobbed into his t-shirt madly. Simon had no idea what was going on until Francine stood up and was straddling his chest with her thin legs.

"Simon... Flazel... Belljoy!" She screamed as she began hitting his chest. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? You decide to take a little trip to Wonderland and not even tell me?! How selfish can you be!"

Simon guarded himself as Francine started to hit his face, but his arms were stronger than her bony hands which hurt still. So, she grabbed a pillow and began beating Simon with it before trying to suffocate him with it. He struggled as he got her off of him and held her in the air, a perk of being taller than everyone else in your class.

Once she was in the air, Francine calmed down enough where she began crying again. Simon sighed as he put her down and kneel to her level. But he grabbed the War Pendant fom the waistband of his boxers and threw it at Claude. The brunette caught it mid-air as Simon tilted Francine's head so she would be looking at him.

She looked at him with teary eyes as he pushed a loose piece of hair behind her hair. "Francine, I'm sorry. I promise on my life that I will never leave you again as long as I live. Hell, I won't leave your side if I was dead."

Francine stopped crying long enough to say, "You mean that?"

Simon nodded his head as he leaned in and kissed her cheek, just like Dollie did to him. He saw her blush as the tears started to come down again, but she just hugged him instead of saying anything. He hugged back as he had one hand in her hair, trying to keep her head on his shoulder for as long as possible.

As Simon let Francine cry, Carmen rolled her eyes at the scene. She looked at Simon as she made a line with her finger across her neck and mouthed, _"We will talk about this later, dork."_ Claude rolled his eyes at Carmen as she was just being jealous that she didn't have a boyfriend or a huge crush on someone or someone to have a huge crush on her.

Claude let the scene go on as he went to the coffee table and placed the War Pendant with the Snow Crystal. Along with those two was the Heart Locket, which was the name Claude gave that heart necklace the Elder Gnome gave him.

As she continued to cry, Simon kissed Francine's ear and she stopped crying long enough to glare at him and say, "If you want to kiss him, do it al-" But she didn't need to tell him twice as Simon gave her a quick but deep kiss on the lips. When they parted, Simon smirked at her before she began hitting his shoulder.

"OW! What is this for?" Simon asked.

"For taking so long!" Francine yelled as Claude began laughing at the scene that was happening.

But his laughter was cut short when he heard a thumping sound. Then he thought about how Carmen hasn't said a word in a while.

Him, Francine, and Simon quickly turned around to see Carmen on the floor behind Claude. She was on her knees, with the Eyestaff in her hands, her eyes closed tightly, and amber marks covering her face as Lucy turned in her sleep as she was sent to a new Kingdom.


End file.
